Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of OberScharrer Group (“OberScharrer” or the “the Group”) to Nordic Capital Fund IX (“Nordic Capital”). ...

Palamon agrees sale of OberScharrer to Nordic Capital

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of OberScharrer Group (“OberScharrer” or the “the Group”) to Nordic Capital Fund IX (“Nordic Capital”). ...

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Palamon agrees sale of OberScharrer to Nordic Capital

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of OberScharrer Group (“OberScharrer” or the “the Group”) to Nordic Capital Fund IX (“Nordic Capital”). The sale, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will generate investment returns of 3.6x invested capital for Palamon. The full terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

OberScharrer is the largest ophthalmology group in Germany, delivering more than 85,000 treatments per year through its c. 80 clinics. Key group services include cataract operations, innovative treatments such as Intravitreal Operative Drug Application (IVOM) for degenerative eye disorders, as well as non-invasive eye treatments and the diagnosis of eye disorders.

Palamon acquired a substantial majority stake in OberScharrer from its two Founders in 2011 having identified the opportunity to build the national leader in the highly fragmented €2.4 billion German ophthalmology market. The investment was underpinned by stable market growth dynamics of approximately 4% per annum, driven principally by the ageing demographics, the development of new treatments, and a structural shift in the delivery of public healthcare to an outpatient service model. Palamon worked with the Founders to build out a new management team and create a market-leading M&A capability that propelled the business to triple in size during the hold period.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented: “This is a typical Palamon thesis-led investment, in which we identified and invested into a long-term growth trend. In OberScharrer we found the ideal platform with which to consolidate the fragmented German ophthalmology market and create a pan-regional player, but which today still only has 5% market share. The opportunity for continued growth is therefore substantial and with a superb management team in place, the Company is poised for the next stage of development under Nordic Capital’s control.”

Sibylle Stauch-Eckmann, CEO of OberScharrer said: “Palamon has been an exceptional partner to OberScharrer. The Firm’s strategic guidance and financial support has been critical in achieving our ambitious growth strategy, whilst maintaining a firm commitment to the clinical excellence that is at the heart of what we do. The opportunity for future growth remains extensive and we are excited about the prospects as we continue to build our business under the ownership of Nordic Capital.”

Dr Scharrer, co-Founder of OberScharrer Group said: “We selected Palamon as a partner that shared our vision for regional growth and a dedication to the excellent patient service we provide. I am delighted that during the period of ownership Palamon have surpassed expectations as a strategic partner, financial supporter and investment manager.”

The exit of OberScharrer marks the sixteenth realisation from the Firm’s 2006 vintage second fund, which has to date produced eight realisations at more than 3.0x return on invested capital. Healthcare has been an important investment theme for Palamon, which has committed more than €440 million to the sector. The Firm has developed a range of market-leading businesses across Europe, including; {my}dentist, the largest dental operator by far in the UK; Prospitalia, the leading Group Purchasing Organisation in Germany which the Firm exited in 2015 for a 3.0x return and SARquavitae, Spain’s largest elderly care provider which it exited in February 2017 for a 3.0x return.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas International (“The Company”), a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions with...

Palamon acquires leading international assessment provider, Thomas International

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas International (“The Company”), a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions with...

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Palamon acquires leading international assessment provider, Thomas International

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas International (“The Company”), a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions with a focus on the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Thomas International is a leading provider of online psychometric assessments, consulting, and related products and services. Founded in 1981 by the Reed family, the Company has been at the forefront of assessment innovation for more than 37 years, helping SMEs to recruit, develop, and retain talent. Headquartered in the UK, the Company has 81 offices globally with over 75% of sales originating from international markets. More than 2 million Thomas International assessments are completed each year across over 60 countries and in 56 languages. The Company generated gross sales of £40 million and pro-forma EBITDA of £9 million during 2017.

Following the acquisition, Thomas International’s CEO Amir Qureshi will continue to lead the business, while Martin Reed will stay on as a non-executive director for the Reed family. Ricardo Caupers and Ali Rahmatollahi will join the Company’s Board as representatives of Palamon.

The acquisition of Thomas International stems from Palamon’s investment thesis in the substantial growth opportunity that exists for data, analytics and software solutions that enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness of SMEs. Thomas International, one of the leading platforms in the $3 billion global psychometric testing market, presents an attractive opportunity to rapidly scale a digital platform offering reliable, lower-cost, easy-to-use software and solution tools.

Ricardo Caupers, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “Thomas International is extremely well positioned to benefit from the growing focus of SMEs on reducing staff recruitment and retention costs by making better hiring decisions, improving talent development, boosting staff engagement and increasing employee retention. We look forward to supporting the Company in making its products a key element of best in class HR management processes in SMEs across the world.”

Ali Rahmatollahi, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “The Reed family has created a unique business, with a tremendous digital product, a strong and sticky customer base and a valuable global footprint. The runway for growth in psychometric assessment usage, especially among SMEs, is huge and we are delighted to partner with Martin, the Reed family and management to help accelerate Thomas growth and journey to become the pre-eminent provider of psychometric software and solutions globally.”

Martin Reed, Chairman and founding family member of Thomas International, said, “I am incredibly proud of the business that my family and staff have built over the last 37 years. Our company has always put its own people at the heart of everything we do and, equally, our assessments and the insights they provide have always been about empowering businesses to transform the performance of their people, teams and culture. At Thomas International we pride ourselves on fostering a culture of innovation. My family, management team and I are confident that in Palamon we have found the perfect strategic partner to help us continue to drive the Company forward.”

Amir Qureshi, CEO of Thomas International, said, “I feel very privileged to be the CEO of such a great company and I want to thank Martin and his family for their support over the last few years. We have grown strongly over that time across the world and yet still see a significant untapped market for our core products. My team and I are incredibly excited to be working with Palamon, who have extensive experience in working with high-growth, technology-driven service companies, to take this business to new heights.”

Thomas International is the seventh investment from Palamon’s third fund, which closed last year above target on €402 million of commitments. Other investments include Business School24 SpA, the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A, Italy's leading business newspaper; Italian leather accessories brand, Il Bisonte; International payments provider Currencies Direct, and global sock brand, Happy Socks. Palamon uses a proactive thematic sourcing approach to find growth investments across the European lower mid-market and has invested more than €2.2 billion in 39 companies across 10 countries.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Business School24 SpA (“Business School24” or the “Company”) the...

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Business School24 SpA (“Business School24” or the “Company”) the...

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Business School24 SpA (“Business School24” or the “Company”) the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A (“Il Sole”), Italy's leading business newspaper. Palamon will acquire 49% of the Company at an enterprise valuation of €80 million with a call option to acquire an additional 2% in May 2018. The sale agreement has arrangements in place for Palamon to acquire additional equity with Il Sole agreeing to retain a minimum 20% strategic stake in the Company going forward.

Business School24 is a leading player in the tertiary education segment in Italy and provides professionally-oriented education and training. Established in 1991 as a business unit of Il Sole 24 Ore, the school has two headquarters in Milan and Rome and enrols more than 26,000 students a year onto its courses both in classrooms and online. The Company differentiates itself by creating targeted courses focused on the real needs of business and employs highly experienced industry professionals to originate original content and deliver lessons. Most courses incorporate an internship for the students, which presents a highly successful pathway to employment.

Palamon’s investment stems from its ongoing thematic work in the education sector to identify businesses that benefit from a structural shift towards private education. Palamon previously invested in Cambridge Education Group, a pathway provider for foreign students to access western universities, which the Firm exited in 2013 for 14.5x return. Palamon believes that Business School24 is ideally positioned to address the significant need for specialised vocational training among the Italian youth where unemployment currently stands at more than 30%.

Commenting on the investment, Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “Business School24 is one of the most widely respected education brands in Italy and it is playing a key role in overcoming the structural disconnection between tertiary education and graduate employment. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with Il Sole 24 ORE to help accelerate growth in the provision of specialised vocational training and a pathway to the labour market for young Italians. We look forward to working with the talented management team and building out the platform over the years to come.”

Franco Moscetti, CEO of Il Sole 24 ORE added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Palamon to accelerate the expansion of our education services across offline and online channels. Their track record in the education sector and understanding of the industry dynamics convinced us of their ability to successfully capture the market opportunity in Italy.”

Business School24 is the sixth investment from Palamon’s latest fund, which closed above target on €402 million of commitments earlier this year. Other investments include Italian leather accessories brand, Il Bisonte; International payments provider Currencies Direct and global sock brand, Happy Socks. Palamon uses a proactive thematic sourcing approach to find growth investments across the European lower mid-market and has to date invested more than €2.2 billion in 39 companies across 10 countries.

Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold join Palamon’s Board of Advisors

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading growth private equity firms, has announced the appointments of Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold to its Board of Advisors. Mr Hemsley is...

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Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold join Palamon’s Board of Advisors

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading growth private equity firms, has announced the appointments of Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold to its Board of Advisors.

Mr Hemsley is the founder and former CEO of Numis Securities, the London-listed small and mid-cap capital markets specialist. Under his 25 year leadership, Numis became one of the UK's most respected institutional stockbrokers and corporate advisors, employing more than 200 staff.

Ms Gold joins the Board of Advisors having spent nearly 25 years as a Partner at SJ Berwin (latterly King & Wood Mallesons) where she specialised in structuring private and public investment funds, including private equity, infrastructure and venture capital. Ms Gold has previous private equity governance experience, serving from 2013 to 2016 as a Non-Executive Director at Electra Private Equity PLC.

Both will join Palamon’s long established and experienced Board of Advisors, comprising 15 business leaders and experts from around the world, most of whom have been affiliated with the Firm since its inception in 1999. The Board provides counsel to the Firm and contributes its expertise and insights with respect to target investment markets and business sectors relevant to Palamon’s focus. Board members also serve on Palamon portfolio company boards to help deliver on operational objectives.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “The Board of Advisors is a critical part of Palamon’s 19-year history and success. They are all long-standing associates of our Firm who provide support, challenge and continuity to our investment activities and development. Members now have an average tenure of well-over a decade and are an indispensable part of our operations. I am more than thrilled to welcome our two newest members, Oliver and Josyane. Both are powerhouses in their professions and highly regarded in their respective areas of expertise, they bring a deep base of experience and extraordinary capabilities to our firm. We are fortunate to have them.”

Commenting on joining the Board of Advisors, Oliver Helmsley said: “My relationship with Palamon and its principals stretches back more than 20 years and I have always been deeply impressed at how clearly it distinguishes itself in the European private equity market which I know well. Thought leadership, innovation and a high-calibre group of professionals are hallmarks of the firm, much like my own firm. I am delighted to be able to serve on the Board of Advisors and become a part of Palamon’s future.”

Commenting on her appointment to the Board of Advisors, Josyane Gold said: “Having worked with Palamon for a considerable number of years, I have had the privilege of seeing the firm up close and personal. I have always been impressed not only by its combination of entrepreneurial ambition and professionalism, but by its well-considered and differentiated approach to private equity. I am delighted to be on the inside now and look forward to working closely with this world-class Board.”

As a leading pan-European investor in the lower mid-market, Palamon brings a unique offering to the businesses it partners, including global reach, deep expertise in institutional development and a track record of internationalization. Earlier this year, Palamon closed its most recent fund with €402 million of commitments. Over its 18-year history Palamon has deployed more than €1.4 billion from its funds plus an additional €1.0 billion in co-investment in 38 companies across 10 countries. The Firm’s proactive thesis-led sourcing model identifies founder-owned businesses that have the potential to sustain revenue growth of 20% or more throughout economic cycles

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has completed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), the leading elderly care provider in Spain for €550 million. Palamon sold SARquavitae’s operating business to GeriaVi, which...

Palamon closes €550 million sale of SARquavitae for 3.0x return

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has completed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), the leading elderly care provider in Spain for €550 million. Palamon sold SARquavitae’s operating business to GeriaVi, which...

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Palamon closes €550 million sale of SARquavitae for 3.0x return

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has completed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), the leading elderly care provider in Spain for €550 million. Palamon sold SARquavitae’s operating business to GeriaVi, which holds Geriatros, another leading player in the Spanish elderly care market, and is a subsidiary of DomusVi (a PAI Partners portfolio company) for €440 million. SARquavitae’s property companies were sold to Eurosic Lagune, a third party real estate investor, in a separate transaction prior to the sale. Both sales have together generated a combined investment return of 3.0x for Palamon.

SARquavitae is the largest elderly care services provider in Spain, operating 88 facilities nationwide and is active in residential facilities, home care, tele-assistance and the provision of at-home medical services. The Company employs approximately 12,000 staff and services 200,000 people per year. Palamon originally invested in SARquavitae in 2009 having identified the opportunity to build a national champion of scale in the fragmented Spanish elderly care sector. Ageing demographics, shifts in social structure and regulatory reform created an ideal environment in which to rapidly grow the business both organically and through acquisitions. In 2011 the Company completed the transformational acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae, making it the largest player in the market. Over Palamon’s hold period, SARquavitae grew revenues from €127 million to more than €330 million and more than tripled EBITDA.

Julian Carreras, Partner at Palamon commented: “The sale of our investment in SARquavitae represents another impressive outcome for Palamon, generating a 3.0x return for our investors. It underlines the power of our original investment thesis, which predicted the growth in the Spanish elderly care market. We would like to remember at this time Higinio Raventos, founder of SARquavitae, who sadly passed away last year and to thank the management team for building a highly effective working relationship during this period and wish them every success with their new partners.”

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Happy Socks (“The Company”), a leading international brand of design socks. The transaction...

Palamon acquires leading international sock brand, Happy Socks

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Happy Socks (“The Company”), a leading international brand of design socks. The transaction...

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Palamon acquires leading international sock brand, Happy Socks

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Happy Socks (“The Company”), a leading international brand of design socks. The transaction values Happy Socks at SEK 725 million, with SEK 40 million of growth capital being injected to support the continued expansion of the business, leading to a SEK 765 million post-money enterprise value.

Founded in 2008 in Sweden by Mikael Söderlindh and Victor Tell, the Company’s mission is to spread happiness by turning an everyday essential into a colourful design piece with a high standard of quality, craftsmanship and creativity. Happy Socks is a globally recognised brand sold in more than 90 countries through more than 10,000 points of sale, supported by a fast growing online channel and an expanding portfolio of own-branded retail stores.

The Company has disrupted the global sock wear market by offering high quality, attractively priced, colourful patterned socks promoted through creative point of sale displays, celebrity collaborations and a strong social media presence. Happy Socks has achieved more than 50% revenue and EBITDA annual growth over the last three years, generating retail sales of €100 million in 2016.

Following the transaction, the founders will remain actively involved in the Company.

Ali Rahmatollahi, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “Happy Socks is a phenomenal company with a very distinctive brand DNA that resonates with consumers around the world. Palamon’s investment stems from the Firm’s ongoing effort to identify well-positioned European specialty retail brands with strong growth potential in a global market.”

Ricardo Caupers, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “We are delighted to be investing in Happy Socks, the original fashion sock brand offering high-quality socks for every occasion, mindset and style. We are thrilled to partner with founders Mikael Söderlindh and Victor Tell and look forward to supporting Happy Socks in fulfilling its global growth potential.”

Mikael Söderlindh, Co-Founder of Happy Socks, commented, “In the last two years Happy Socks has grown beyond our expectations. We have transformed the company into a real growth engine by strengthening our operational platform and our global presence. We have achieved the best of both worlds by securing a strong new partner in Palamon and remaining significant owners in a great business that we will continue to build in the years to come.”

Palamon’s previous investments in the specialty retail sector include: dress-for-less, a German online retailer for designer apparel; feelunique.com, the leading pure-play online retailer of premium beauty products in the UK; Il Bisonte, the Italian leather goods brand and The Rug Company, a leading global brand in luxury handmade rugs.

Palamon’s investment strategy targets founder-led, service sector businesses across Europe with the potential to capture the shift in consumer demand toward authentic, high quality and well-priced products and grow revenue at more than 20% per annum.

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Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of POLIKUM GmbH (“POLIKUM” or “the Company”), a German operator of outpatient health clinics...

Palamon Capital Partners sells POLIKUM to SANA

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of POLIKUM GmbH (“POLIKUM” or “the Company”), a German operator of outpatient health clinics...

Palamon Capital Partners sells POLIKUM to SANA

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of POLIKUM GmbH (“POLIKUM” or “the Company”), a German operator of outpatient health clinics (OHCs) to SANA, a leading private-sector hospitals operator in Germany.

Founded in 2004, POLIKUM manages a network of four OHCs in Berlin and Leipzig, which provide ambulatory general medicine and specialities including paediatrics, physiotherapy and cardiology to statutory and private patients. Following a series of reforms to the German healthcare market to improve efficiency and reduce costs by promoting outpatient care, POLIKUM has played a pioneering role in the rapidly growing multi-site OHC sector.

Since Palamon’s acquisition of POLIKUM in 2009, the Company has tripled revenues from €11 million to €33 million for 2014 and significantly improved its site-by-site performance. Key to this success was Palamon’s decision to strengthen the Company’s management team, reduce its cost base and fund the acquisition of an additional clinic in Berlin and a second regional cluster in Leipzig. As a result, POLIKUM today employs over 500 staff, including 130 physicians and treats over 500,000 patients per annum.

Pascal Noth, Partner at Palamon, commented, “Under our ownership, POLIKUM has been transformed from an early-stage investment into one of the leaders in the German outpatient market. With its fast-growing patient base, robust operating model and proven track record in delivering high-quality care, POLIKUM generated strong interest from the largest healthcare and hospital providers. We wish the team continued success with their new strategic partners.”

Stephan Kewenig, CEO of POLIKUM, commented, “Palamon’s support and strategic insight has been invaluable in establishing POLIKUM as a leading operator in the outpatient sector in Germany. We are now in a position to offer a broader range of support to patients throughout Berlin and Leipzig, and we look forward to working with SANA to capture the next stage of growth.”

Healthcare is an important investment theme for Palamon, which has committed more than €200 million to the sector over the past seven years. The Firm has invested across Europe in a range of market-leading businesses such as; SARquavitae, Spain’s largest elderly care provider with 12,000 staff; IDH, the largest dental corporate in the UK with more than 600 practices; Prospitalia, the leading Group Purchasing Organisation in Germany; and OberScharrer Group, the leading ophthalmology group in Germany.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) has received recognition in the private equity industry’s leading awards for its investment in Cambridge Education Group (“CEG”). CEG is today one of...

Palamon wins multiple awards for 14.6x Cambridge Education exit

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) has received recognition in the private equity industry’s leading awards for its investment in Cambridge Education Group (“CEG”). CEG is today one of...

Palamon wins multiple awards for 14.6x Cambridge Education exit

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) has received recognition in the private equity industry’s leading awards for its investment in Cambridge Education Group (“CEG”).

CEG is today one of the leading providers of pre-University education, originally identified in 2007 by Palamon and acquired off-market from its husband-and-wife founder team. Palamon institutionalised the management team, developed strategy, built infrastructure and provided the financial and strategic support to rapidly grow over the six-year hold period. Cambridge Education Group was realised by Palamon in December 2013 generating a 14.6x return on invested capital and an IRR of 58%. The investment has won two of the leading industry awards:

Private Equity International Awards 2013: Exit of the Year in Europe Private Equity Awards 2014: UK Small Deal of the Year

In addition, Private Equity News shortlisted the investment as one of the top 25 deals of the last decade (link) and CEG received Education Investor Award, 2013 for Private Schools Operator.

Pascal Noth, Partner at Palamon, said: “We are extremely proud of our achievements with Cambridge Education Group and grateful to the exceptional management team that so successfully delivered our business plan. We continue to be excited about the opportunities that the education sector holds for investment out of our new fund.”

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, added: “We are delighted to have garnered such strong recognition for this investment. Most importantly, this follows similar awards and recognitions achieved now in multiple European countries, including Scandinavia and the DACH region. Our investment success is truly pan-European.”

Palamon won Private Equity Awards 2013: Nordic Deal of the Year for its exit of Espresso House and unquote” DACH Private Equity Awards 2011: German Buyout Deal of the Year for its sale of Dress-for-less. The Firm was also shortlisted for Private Equity Awards 2010, DACH Deal of the Year for Loyalty Partner and Nordic Deal of the Year for Nordax.

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon"), a leading lower mid-market European private equity firm, has agreed the sale of its majority stake in Cambridge Education Group ("CEG" or "the Group") to Bridgepoint....

Palamon Capital Partners agrees sale of Cambridge Education Group to Bridgepoint for a 14.6x

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon"), a leading lower mid-market European private equity firm, has agreed the sale of its majority stake in Cambridge Education Group ("CEG" or "the Group") to Bridgepoint....

Palamon Capital Partners agrees sale of Cambridge Education Group to Bridgepoint for a 14.6x

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon"), a leading lower mid-market European private equity firm, has agreed the sale of its majority stake in Cambridge Education Group ("CEG" or "the Group") to Bridgepoint. The sale will generate a return on investment for Palamon of 14.6 times, with a capital gain of £141 million and an IRR of 58%.

Cambridge Education Group is a leading player in the international schools market, providing pre-university education to students from over 95 countries via its global recruiting network. It forms part of the rapidly growing UK education export industry, which is estimated to be worth £17.5 billion and one of the ten largest export segments in the country.

Palamon originally sourced its investment in CEG directly from the founding team of Nick Golding and Elizabeth and Ann Armstrong in 2007. At that time CEG taught 460 academic students per year across two campuses in Cambridge and Canterbury. Today, CEG teaches over 3,000 academic students and thousands of short-term English language students each year across its four divisions in three countries. In excess of 75% of CATS students gain entry into top ranked universities each year.

During Palamon's ownership, CEG has grown revenues five-fold to an estimated £90 million for the academic year 2013-14. This growth has been exclusively organic as the management team expanded its teaching capacity, signed on new sites and focused on providing the highest standards of education to its primarily international customer base.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, commented: "We are very proud of having played an important part in building CEG into a leading brand with a dominant position in the education sector. This is a classic 'breakaway' Palamon investment. We identified an unusual opportunity in a small business context with strong potential and combined it with exceptional management talent to deliver explosive long-term growth. I speak for the various Palamon team members who conceived and transacted on the CEG investment, including Dan Mytnik who gave invaluable guidance to the company throughout its development, in recognising the great achievement of CEO Fergus Brownlee and his Chairman Stephen Warshaw. We wish Fergus and his team continued success with their new partners."

Fergus Brownlee, Chief Executive of CEG, added: "We are delighted with what we have been able to achieve during the past seven years with the close and supportive collaboration of our partner, Palamon. We have taken CEG from being a small UK platform to a market leading brand with an international presence and are now looking forward to working with Bridgepoint to capture the next stage of growth."

Stephen Warshaw, Chairman of CEG, added: "This is a tremendous result for the management team here at CEG, who have worked so hard to build the business by expanding teaching capability and entering new sectors and markets, whilst delivering high standards of educational and pastoral care. We have benefited from a highly successful partnership with Palamon, whose strategic vision and financial expertise have been invaluable in the evolution and growth of CEG."

This is Palamon's sixth exit from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, which to date has generated cash proceeds of €660 million and a 3.6x return and 28% IRR on fully realised investments. Palamon II still has 11 high growth companies remaining in its portfolio, including; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based and on-line transactions; IDH, the largest NHS dental practice group in the UK and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and Palamon Capital Partners today announced the acquisition of DBG (UK) Limited (“dbg”) from Synova Capital. The terms of the transaction...

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and Palamon Capital Partners today announced the acquisition of DBG (UK) Limited (“dbg”) from Synova Capital. The terms of the transaction...

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and Palamon Capital Partners today announced the acquisition of DBG (UK) Limited (“dbg”) from Synova Capital. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Operating for over 20 years, dbg is a specialist healthcare support services provider of training, compliance support, engineering services, materials and equipment. Using a membership- based model, dbg works alongside over 8,000 dental, GP and veterinary practices throughout the UK, and is headquartered in Winsford, Cheshire.

Eric Kump, Managing Director at Carlyle said “dbg is a well-established business delivering clear benefits to its members, customers and suppliers. Carlyle and Palamon have a strong track record in this sector, having acquired Integrated Dental Holdings (“IDH”) in 2011. While the two businesses will be part of the same investment vehicle, dbg will remain independent and will benefit from the expertise of the investors.”

Jonathan Heathcote, Partner at Palamon, added “The existing management team has done a great job of delivering strong business performance and we look forward to building on this in the future as we explore the further growth opportunities in this sector.”

Speaking on the transaction, Managing Director of dbg, Kanesh Khilosia, commented “We are delighted to be partnering with Carlyle and Palamon. They strongly support our strategy to continue to grow and diversify dbg’s services and support our members whose interests remain first and foremost. Carlyle and Palamon bring a wealth of sector experience, which will build upon that of the existing management. The prospect of greater co-operation with IDH, which operates the largest healthcare practise network in the UK, will significantly add to our ability to provide a superior, cost effective service to our members.”

Philip Shapiro, Managing Partner at Synova commented “We are very pleased with the completion of our successful investment in dbg. Since we acquired dbg in 2010, the membership base has more than doubled and profits have trebled. We thank the dbg management team and staff for their valuable contribution and hard work. Carlyle and Palamon have a clear vision and ability to continue this growth.”

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $170 billion of assets under management across 113 funds and 67 fund of fund vehicles as of December 31, 2012. Carlyle's purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pension funds. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Funds Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs 1,400 people in 33 offices across six continents.

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, France, and Germany. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can achieve double digit growth and where the Partnership’s experienced principals can provide strategic direction and support to help build equity value. The Firm manages Palamon European Equity, L.P. and Palamon European Equity II, L.P., capitalised at €1.1 billion dedicated to growth investment opportunities in Europe’s lower mid-market.

Synova invests in smaller UK growth opportunities with a particular focus on companies valued at between £5 million and £30 million. Key verticals include Business Services, Software & IT Services, Consumer & Leisure and Healthcare & Education.

Towry raises £35 million of new equity

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm") is pleased to announce that portfolio company Towry Group Limited ("Towry" or the "Company") has raised £35 million of new equity to provide additional funding for the Company's expansion plans. The investment was made by two Palamon co-investors, AlpInvest Partners B.V. and Honeywell Capital Management LLC.

The new Retail Distribution Review (RDR) regulation, effective from 1 January 2013, is driving changes in the UK wealth advice sector and providing significant opportunities for Towry to accelerate acquisitions and adviser recruitment. Towry has made 10 acquisitions since Palamon's initial investment in 2003 and grown its adviser base from 13 to 144 and its assets under management from £250 million to £4.6 billion. Today, the Company has annual revenue of over £80 million and provides fee-based wealth advice and discretionary asset fund management services to over 25,000 clients.

The successful new fundraising complements the recent £47.5 million of financing lines secured earlier in the year from Macquarie Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Andrew Fisher, Chief Executive of Towry said, "We have exciting expansion plans as we see enormous opportunities arising from the RDR. The new capital raised gives us a solid base from which to execute our plans for further growth.".

Gerald Corbett, Chairman of Towry added, "With the strength of Towry's offering to its clients and its experienced management team, I am certain that it will successfully implement its expansion plans and generate excellent returns. We welcome AlpInvest and Honeywell Capital as shareholders and appreciate their confidence in our Company.".

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner at Palamon, commented, "The support from such high calibre institutional investors is a testament to the strength of Towry's business model, its track record and its tremendous growth potential. We are delighted to continue our work with Towry's management as they continue to expand their presence in the UK wealth management sector."

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm"), a pan-European growth investor, led the transaction to acquire a majority interest in beauty e-commerce specialist feelunique.com ("feelunique" or the "Company"), one of...

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm"), a pan-European growth investor, led the transaction to acquire a majority interest in beauty e-commerce specialist feelunique.com ("feelunique" or the "Company"), one of...

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm"), a pan-European growth investor, led the transaction to acquire a majority interest in beauty e-commerce specialist feelunique.com ("feelunique" or the "Company"), one of Europe's fastest growing on-line beauty retailers. The transaction was agreed at a head-line enterprise value for feelunique of £26 million.

feelunique is a leading on-line retailer of premium products in haircare, skincare, cosmetics and fragrances, selling full-permissioned stock from almost all of the major brands including Dior, Lancôme, Clarins, Guerlain, Yves Saint Laurent, Benefit and Kerastase. The Company has built a strong reputation for its customer service and website editorial content, which is directed by Newby Hands, a beauty journalist and Harper's Bazaar Beauty Director-at-Large. It was founded in 2005 and employs more than 125 staff at its headquarters and logistics centre in the Channel Islands.

Palamon will purchase a majority shareholding from the founders and earlier-stage investors and will provide further capital to support the Company's growth plan. Sirius Equity will invest alongside Palamon in the transaction. Following Palamon's investment, Sirius co-founders Robert Bensoussan will join the Board of the Company as Chairman and Jim Sharp will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Mr Bensoussan also is Chairman of L K Bennett, a board member of Interparfums and former investor in and CEO of Jimmy Choo.

Palamon's and Sirius' investment stems from the strong underlying growth in the on-line beauty retail segment driven by the increasing shift in consumer spend to on-line, as occurred in the fashion retail sector. feelunique is also taking significant market share by progressively expanding its product range and increasing loyalty through its customer-centric model. This has driven growth in Company sales by more than 40% per year to more than £30 million of annual revenue.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon commented: "We are delighted to be investing in feelunique, a high growth business that is ideally placed to benefit from the fast expanding on-line retail beauty sector with its established platform, a strong business model and entrepreneurial management team. We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with founders, Aaron Chatterley and Richard Schiessl, and to welcome Robert Bensoussan and Jim Sharp to the Board. The expertise of Robert and Jim in the luxury branded sector will be invaluable in taking the business to the next level."

Aaron Chatterley, CEO of feelunique, said: "We are excited to have gained the backing of Palamon whose expertise in the on-line retail space convinced us that they would be ideal partners. Given our ambitious growth plans and the size of the opportunity, it was important to partner with a firm that had both the financial resources and a clear vision of how the market will evolve. We now look forward to working closely with our new partners as we turn our vision of expansion into reality."

Robert Bensoussan, newly appointed Chairman of feelunique commented "feelunique has developed an incredibly strong platform through the hard work of Aaron and Richard and their team. We believe there is a very exciting opportunity to develop the business and I am excited to be partnering with Palamon and the management team to help the business fulfil its potential".

Palamon identifies and invests in high growth services businesses across Europe, the majority of which are founder-led and sourced directly by the Firm's strong proprietary deal flow network. Since the Firm's inception in 1999 Palamon's portfolio companies have achieved revenue growth on average of 20% per annum.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of OberScharrer Group (“OberScharrer” or the “the Group”) to Nordic Capital Fund IX (“Nordic Capital”). The sale, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will generate investment returns of 3.6x invested capital for Palamon. The full terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

OberScharrer is the largest ophthalmology group in Germany, delivering more than 85,000 treatments per year through its c. 80 clinics. Key group services include cataract operations, innovative treatments such as Intravitreal Operative Drug Application (IVOM) for degenerative eye disorders, as well as non-invasive eye treatments and the diagnosis of eye disorders.

Palamon acquired a substantial majority stake in OberScharrer from its two Founders in 2011 having identified the opportunity to build the national leader in the highly fragmented €2.4 billion German ophthalmology market. The investment was underpinned by stable market growth dynamics of approximately 4% per annum, driven principally by the ageing demographics, the development of new treatments, and a structural shift in the delivery of public healthcare to an outpatient service model. Palamon worked with the Founders to build out a new management team and create a market-leading M&A capability that propelled the business to triple in size during the hold period.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented: “This is a typical Palamon thesis-led investment, in which we identified and invested into a long-term growth trend. In OberScharrer we found the ideal platform with which to consolidate the fragmented German ophthalmology market and create a pan-regional player, but which today still only has 5% market share. The opportunity for continued growth is therefore substantial and with a superb management team in place, the Company is poised for the next stage of development under Nordic Capital’s control.”

Sibylle Stauch-Eckmann, CEO of OberScharrer said: “Palamon has been an exceptional partner to OberScharrer. The Firm’s strategic guidance and financial support has been critical in achieving our ambitious growth strategy, whilst maintaining a firm commitment to the clinical excellence that is at the heart of what we do. The opportunity for future growth remains extensive and we are excited about the prospects as we continue to build our business under the ownership of Nordic Capital.”

Dr Scharrer, co-Founder of OberScharrer Group said: “We selected Palamon as a partner that shared our vision for regional growth and a dedication to the excellent patient service we provide. I am delighted that during the period of ownership Palamon have surpassed expectations as a strategic partner, financial supporter and investment manager.”

The exit of OberScharrer marks the sixteenth realisation from the Firm’s 2006 vintage second fund, which has to date produced eight realisations at more than 3.0x return on invested capital. Healthcare has been an important investment theme for Palamon, which has committed more than €440 million to the sector. The Firm has developed a range of market-leading businesses across Europe, including; {my}dentist, the largest dental operator by far in the UK; Prospitalia, the leading Group Purchasing Organisation in Germany which the Firm exited in 2015 for a 3.0x return and SARquavitae, Spain’s largest elderly care provider which it exited in February 2017 for a 3.0x return.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas International (“The Company”), a leading international provider of psychometric assessment solutions with a focus on the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Thomas International is a leading provider of online psychometric assessments, consulting, and related products and services. Founded in 1981 by the Reed family, the Company has been at the forefront of assessment innovation for more than 37 years, helping SMEs to recruit, develop, and retain talent. Headquartered in the UK, the Company has 81 offices globally with over 75% of sales originating from international markets. More than 2 million Thomas International assessments are completed each year across over 60 countries and in 56 languages. The Company generated gross sales of £40 million and pro-forma EBITDA of £9 million during 2017.

Following the acquisition, Thomas International’s CEO Amir Qureshi will continue to lead the business, while Martin Reed will stay on as a non-executive director for the Reed family. Ricardo Caupers and Ali Rahmatollahi will join the Company’s Board as representatives of Palamon.

The acquisition of Thomas International stems from Palamon’s investment thesis in the substantial growth opportunity that exists for data, analytics and software solutions that enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness of SMEs. Thomas International, one of the leading platforms in the $3 billion global psychometric testing market, presents an attractive opportunity to rapidly scale a digital platform offering reliable, lower-cost, easy-to-use software and solution tools.

Ricardo Caupers, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “Thomas International is extremely well positioned to benefit from the growing focus of SMEs on reducing staff recruitment and retention costs by making better hiring decisions, improving talent development, boosting staff engagement and increasing employee retention. We look forward to supporting the Company in making its products a key element of best in class HR management processes in SMEs across the world.”

Ali Rahmatollahi, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “The Reed family has created a unique business, with a tremendous digital product, a strong and sticky customer base and a valuable global footprint. The runway for growth in psychometric assessment usage, especially among SMEs, is huge and we are delighted to partner with Martin, the Reed family and management to help accelerate Thomas growth and journey to become the pre-eminent provider of psychometric software and solutions globally.”

Martin Reed, Chairman and founding family member of Thomas International, said, “I am incredibly proud of the business that my family and staff have built over the last 37 years. Our company has always put its own people at the heart of everything we do and, equally, our assessments and the insights they provide have always been about empowering businesses to transform the performance of their people, teams and culture. At Thomas International we pride ourselves on fostering a culture of innovation. My family, management team and I are confident that in Palamon we have found the perfect strategic partner to help us continue to drive the Company forward.”

Amir Qureshi, CEO of Thomas International, said, “I feel very privileged to be the CEO of such a great company and I want to thank Martin and his family for their support over the last few years. We have grown strongly over that time across the world and yet still see a significant untapped market for our core products. My team and I are incredibly excited to be working with Palamon, who have extensive experience in working with high-growth, technology-driven service companies, to take this business to new heights.”

Thomas International is the seventh investment from Palamon’s third fund, which closed last year above target on €402 million of commitments. Other investments include Business School24 SpA, the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A, Italy's leading business newspaper; Italian leather accessories brand, Il Bisonte; International payments provider Currencies Direct, and global sock brand, Happy Socks. Palamon uses a proactive thematic sourcing approach to find growth investments across the European lower mid-market and has invested more than €2.2 billion in 39 companies across 10 countries.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire Business School24 SpA (“Business School24” or the “Company”) the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A (“Il Sole”), Italy's leading business newspaper. Palamon will acquire 49% of the Company at an enterprise valuation of €80 million with a call option to acquire an additional 2% in May 2018. The sale agreement has arrangements in place for Palamon to acquire additional equity with Il Sole agreeing to retain a minimum 20% strategic stake in the Company going forward.

Business School24 is a leading player in the tertiary education segment in Italy and provides professionally-oriented education and training. Established in 1991 as a business unit of Il Sole 24 Ore, the school has two headquarters in Milan and Rome and enrols more than 26,000 students a year onto its courses both in classrooms and online. The Company differentiates itself by creating targeted courses focused on the real needs of business and employs highly experienced industry professionals to originate original content and deliver lessons. Most courses incorporate an internship for the students, which presents a highly successful pathway to employment.

Palamon’s investment stems from its ongoing thematic work in the education sector to identify businesses that benefit from a structural shift towards private education. Palamon previously invested in Cambridge Education Group, a pathway provider for foreign students to access western universities, which the Firm exited in 2013 for 14.5x return. Palamon believes that Business School24 is ideally positioned to address the significant need for specialised vocational training among the Italian youth where unemployment currently stands at more than 30%.

Commenting on the investment, Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “Business School24 is one of the most widely respected education brands in Italy and it is playing a key role in overcoming the structural disconnection between tertiary education and graduate employment. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with Il Sole 24 ORE to help accelerate growth in the provision of specialised vocational training and a pathway to the labour market for young Italians. We look forward to working with the talented management team and building out the platform over the years to come.”

Franco Moscetti, CEO of Il Sole 24 ORE added: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Palamon to accelerate the expansion of our education services across offline and online channels. Their track record in the education sector and understanding of the industry dynamics convinced us of their ability to successfully capture the market opportunity in Italy.”

Business School24 is the sixth investment from Palamon’s latest fund, which closed above target on €402 million of commitments earlier this year. Other investments include Italian leather accessories brand, Il Bisonte; International payments provider Currencies Direct and global sock brand, Happy Socks. Palamon uses a proactive thematic sourcing approach to find growth investments across the European lower mid-market and has to date invested more than €2.2 billion in 39 companies across 10 countries.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading growth private equity firms, has announced the appointments of Oliver Hemsley and Josyane Gold to its Board of Advisors.

Mr Hemsley is the founder and former CEO of Numis Securities, the London-listed small and mid-cap capital markets specialist. Under his 25 year leadership, Numis became one of the UK's most respected institutional stockbrokers and corporate advisors, employing more than 200 staff.

Ms Gold joins the Board of Advisors having spent nearly 25 years as a Partner at SJ Berwin (latterly King & Wood Mallesons) where she specialised in structuring private and public investment funds, including private equity, infrastructure and venture capital. Ms Gold has previous private equity governance experience, serving from 2013 to 2016 as a Non-Executive Director at Electra Private Equity PLC.

Both will join Palamon’s long established and experienced Board of Advisors, comprising 15 business leaders and experts from around the world, most of whom have been affiliated with the Firm since its inception in 1999. The Board provides counsel to the Firm and contributes its expertise and insights with respect to target investment markets and business sectors relevant to Palamon’s focus. Board members also serve on Palamon portfolio company boards to help deliver on operational objectives.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “The Board of Advisors is a critical part of Palamon’s 19-year history and success. They are all long-standing associates of our Firm who provide support, challenge and continuity to our investment activities and development. Members now have an average tenure of well-over a decade and are an indispensable part of our operations. I am more than thrilled to welcome our two newest members, Oliver and Josyane. Both are powerhouses in their professions and highly regarded in their respective areas of expertise, they bring a deep base of experience and extraordinary capabilities to our firm. We are fortunate to have them.”

Commenting on joining the Board of Advisors, Oliver Helmsley said: “My relationship with Palamon and its principals stretches back more than 20 years and I have always been deeply impressed at how clearly it distinguishes itself in the European private equity market which I know well. Thought leadership, innovation and a high-calibre group of professionals are hallmarks of the firm, much like my own firm. I am delighted to be able to serve on the Board of Advisors and become a part of Palamon’s future.”

Commenting on her appointment to the Board of Advisors, Josyane Gold said: “Having worked with Palamon for a considerable number of years, I have had the privilege of seeing the firm up close and personal. I have always been impressed not only by its combination of entrepreneurial ambition and professionalism, but by its well-considered and differentiated approach to private equity. I am delighted to be on the inside now and look forward to working closely with this world-class Board.”

As a leading pan-European investor in the lower mid-market, Palamon brings a unique offering to the businesses it partners, including global reach, deep expertise in institutional development and a track record of internationalization. Earlier this year, Palamon closed its most recent fund with €402 million of commitments. Over its 18-year history Palamon has deployed more than €1.4 billion from its funds plus an additional €1.0 billion in co-investment in 38 companies across 10 countries. The Firm’s proactive thesis-led sourcing model identifies founder-owned businesses that have the potential to sustain revenue growth of 20% or more throughout economic cycles

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has completed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), the leading elderly care provider in Spain for €550 million. Palamon sold SARquavitae’s operating business to GeriaVi, which holds Geriatros, another leading player in the Spanish elderly care market, and is a subsidiary of DomusVi (a PAI Partners portfolio company) for €440 million. SARquavitae’s property companies were sold to Eurosic Lagune, a third party real estate investor, in a separate transaction prior to the sale. Both sales have together generated a combined investment return of 3.0x for Palamon.

SARquavitae is the largest elderly care services provider in Spain, operating 88 facilities nationwide and is active in residential facilities, home care, tele-assistance and the provision of at-home medical services. The Company employs approximately 12,000 staff and services 200,000 people per year. Palamon originally invested in SARquavitae in 2009 having identified the opportunity to build a national champion of scale in the fragmented Spanish elderly care sector. Ageing demographics, shifts in social structure and regulatory reform created an ideal environment in which to rapidly grow the business both organically and through acquisitions. In 2011 the Company completed the transformational acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae, making it the largest player in the market. Over Palamon’s hold period, SARquavitae grew revenues from €127 million to more than €330 million and more than tripled EBITDA.

Julian Carreras, Partner at Palamon commented: “The sale of our investment in SARquavitae represents another impressive outcome for Palamon, generating a 3.0x return for our investors. It underlines the power of our original investment thesis, which predicted the growth in the Spanish elderly care market. We would like to remember at this time Higinio Raventos, founder of SARquavitae, who sadly passed away last year and to thank the management team for building a highly effective working relationship during this period and wish them every success with their new partners.”

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in Happy Socks (“The Company”), a leading international brand of design socks. The transaction values Happy Socks at SEK 725 million, with SEK 40 million of growth capital being injected to support the continued expansion of the business, leading to a SEK 765 million post-money enterprise value.

Founded in 2008 in Sweden by Mikael Söderlindh and Victor Tell, the Company’s mission is to spread happiness by turning an everyday essential into a colourful design piece with a high standard of quality, craftsmanship and creativity. Happy Socks is a globally recognised brand sold in more than 90 countries through more than 10,000 points of sale, supported by a fast growing online channel and an expanding portfolio of own-branded retail stores.

The Company has disrupted the global sock wear market by offering high quality, attractively priced, colourful patterned socks promoted through creative point of sale displays, celebrity collaborations and a strong social media presence. Happy Socks has achieved more than 50% revenue and EBITDA annual growth over the last three years, generating retail sales of €100 million in 2016.

Following the transaction, the founders will remain actively involved in the Company.

Ali Rahmatollahi, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “Happy Socks is a phenomenal company with a very distinctive brand DNA that resonates with consumers around the world. Palamon’s investment stems from the Firm’s ongoing effort to identify well-positioned European specialty retail brands with strong growth potential in a global market.”

Ricardo Caupers, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “We are delighted to be investing in Happy Socks, the original fashion sock brand offering high-quality socks for every occasion, mindset and style. We are thrilled to partner with founders Mikael Söderlindh and Victor Tell and look forward to supporting Happy Socks in fulfilling its global growth potential.”

Mikael Söderlindh, Co-Founder of Happy Socks, commented, “In the last two years Happy Socks has grown beyond our expectations. We have transformed the company into a real growth engine by strengthening our operational platform and our global presence. We have achieved the best of both worlds by securing a strong new partner in Palamon and remaining significant owners in a great business that we will continue to build in the years to come.”

Palamon’s previous investments in the specialty retail sector include: dress-for-less, a German online retailer for designer apparel; feelunique.com, the leading pure-play online retailer of premium beauty products in the UK; Il Bisonte, the Italian leather goods brand and The Rug Company, a leading global brand in luxury handmade rugs.

Palamon’s investment strategy targets founder-led, service sector businesses across Europe with the potential to capture the shift in consumer demand toward authentic, high quality and well-priced products and grow revenue at more than 20% per annum.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has agreed the sale of SARquavitae (the “Company”), one of the leading elderly care providers in Spain, to HomeVi S.A.S. (“Home VI”) a portfolio company of PAI Partners. The transaction is subject to receipt of antitrust clearance from the European Commission and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. The sale will result in an investment return of 3.0x for Palamon.

Julian Carreras, Partner at Palamon commented: “We are delighted with the result of our investment in SARquavitae which when complete will generate nearly €140 million of proceeds and a 3.0x return for our investors. Our investment thesis for rapid growth in the Spanish elderly care market proved prescient and allowed us to drive SARquavitae revenues from €127 million to €310 million and more than triple EBITDA.”

SARquavitae (www.sarquavitae.es) is one of the leading health and social services provider in Spain. It has a workforce made up of more than 12,000 employees, who provide nursing home and domiciliary care services to 200,000 people every year. The organisation has developed an innovative person-centred care protocol based on three main areas: humane, friendly treatment, specialist healthcare and a focus on comfort and wellbeing, which permeate all these services. The company has 109 centres, of which 72 are nursing homes and healthcare centres, 16 are specialist disability care centres, 19 are day centres and hospitals and 2 constitute housing complexes with services, comprising a total offer of almost 14,000 places.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has agreed the sale of Eneas Group (“Eneas” or the “Company”) to Norvestor Equity (“Norvestor”) for an undisclosed amount. The sale will bring total proceeds to NOK 750 million (approximately €80 million), representing a 3.3x return on invested capital. The transaction is expected to close in August 2016, subject to regulatory approvals. Full terms of the sale were not disclosed, however, following the transaction the Company will continue to be led by CEO and Founder, Thomas Hakavik.

Eneas is the leading independent supplier of corporate energy services to small and medium sized enterprises (“SMEs”) in the Nordic region and serves more than 25,000 customers with energy brokerage, energy audit and smart metering services.

Palamon acquired a substantial majority stake in Eneas having recognised the growth potential of its highly-scalable energy brokerage business, which intermediates between SMEs and the deeply fragmented Nordic supplier base of almost 300 energy providers. Under Palamon’s ownership, Eneas has grown into the largest independent energy broker for SMEs and the clear market leader in Norway and Sweden, representing 1.7 TWh of annual energy consumption. The Company has been able to successfully leverage its scale and sophistication in navigating the Nordic electricity market to offer competitive, convenience-focused products tailored to the needs of its SME customer base.

Jean Bonnavion, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented, “I am delighted with the level of success at Eneas, particularly over the past three years during which time we have grown EBITDA at 40% CAGR. Our investment in Eneas originated from our pan-European thematic strategy, which identifies high-growth businesses supported by resilient sectoral shifts. In line with our investment thesis, Thomas and his team have been able to scale the brokerage business to a position of real strength in a highly-fragmented and competitive supplier market, producing a 3.3x return for our investors.”

Thomas Hakavik, Founder and CEO of Eneas said, “Palamon has been a very strong partner for Eneas over the last three years. The Firm’s strategic guidance has proved critical in helping us to focus the company on the core business activities and drive growth. I am proud that Eneas is now the leading independent player in the Nordic energy market, in a stronger financial position than ever and with significantly improved capabilities. We are excited for the next stage of the company’s growth.”

Palamon’s previous investments in the Nordic region include: Espresso House, which it realised in 2012 for a 3.4x return and Nordax, which it sold in 2010 for a 3.8x return.

The Firm’s investment strategy targets businesses that can capitalise on long term growth trends arising from socio economic and structural changes within sub-sectors of industry. In April, Palamon signed an agreement to sell Towry, the leading independent UK wealth manager for £600 million and a 13x investment return. Palamon’s recent investments include the acquisition of control positions in three Founder-owned businesses: Currencies Direct, one of the largest specialist international payments providers in the UK; Il Bisonte, an Italian leather accessories brand with an established sales presence in Japan; and The Rug Company, the leading global retailer of designer luxury rugs

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, today announced that it has completed a £20 million funding round alongside two co-investors for portfolio company Feelunique.com (“Feelunique” or the “Company”), the largest pure-play online retailer of premium beauty products in the UK.

Founded in 2005, Feelunique is a leading online retailer of premium products in haircare, skincare, cosmetics and fragrances, selling full-permissioned stock from all of the major brands including Chanel, Dior, Lancôme and Estee Lauder. Palamon acquired the Company in December 2012 recognising the growth opportunity presented by the significantly underpenetrated online beauty retail sector. Since then, Palamon has strengthened Feelunique’s market position by professionalising its management and investing in infrastructure, including moving the firm’s logistics centre to the UK to accelerate growth in this key market. The UK business has performed extremely well with revenue up 38% and total retail sales for the year ended 31 March 2016 of £65 million, an increase of 23% on the year before.

The full terms of the transaction were not disclosed, however, Palamon committed £5 million to the Company alongside two co-investors. The £20 million of funding will be used to continue driving growth in the UK market and finance expansion in Continental Europe by establishing a local presence in France, Europe’s largest beauty retail market. Feelunique recently acquired Parfumeries Rive Droite, a French perfumery chain with four boutiques across France, including a flagship store in Paris. The Company also opened a local distribution centre and appointed a highly-experienced local executive team. In addition Feelunique recently launched a Chinese website which is operating beyond expectations.

Ricardo Caupers, Partner at Palamon commented: “With the largest range of permissioned stock of any online distributor in the world, Feelunique has already achieved tremendous success and in its home UK market is growing at almost 40% per annum. We are delighted to have completed this funding round which will support the Company in the next stage of its development and fulfil its ambition to become the champion of online premium beauty retail in Europe and beyond.”

Joel Palix, CEO of Feelunique, said: “We are delighted that Palamon have increased their financial commitment alongside two new co-investors at this very exciting time for the business. Our financial results show the strength of the brand in the UK and with strong consumer demand for our unrivalled brand portfolio coming from all corners of the world, it is clear that the business has expansive growth potential. We look to the future with confidence as Feelunique leads with its universal and diverse approach to beauty – one without boundaries.”

Palamon invests in service sector companies from across Europe with the potential to access high levels of growth. Recent transactions include leather accessories brand Il Bisonte, luxury rug retailer The Rug Company and international payments provider Currencies Direct. The Firm has a strong track record of generating co-investment and with this transaction has generated €900 million of co-investment to invest alongside €1.2 billion of equity from its Funds.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) has agreed the sale of Towry (“the Company”) to Tilney Bestinvest for £600 million, subject to regulatory approvals. The sale will result in total Sterling investment returns for Palamon of 13 times invested capital.

Towry is one of the largest independent wealth managers in the UK with more than £9 billion of client assets, 85% of which are managed under discretionary investment mandates. Towry employs more than 900 staff across 21 regional offices and offers award-winning investment management alongside highly skilled financial planning. The combination of Towry and Tilney Bestinvest will create the leading UK wealth management firm for affluent and high net worth clients.

Palamon originally acquired John Scott & Partners, a small founder-led wealth manager with £250 million AuM in 2003, having identified the potential to build a national leader of scale in the highly fragmented financial advisory sector. John Scott & Partners was acquired by Palamon in an off-market transaction and selected because it had a distinctive model of charging clients on a fee-for-advice basis, combined with a discretionary asset management service, as opposed to the prevailing commission based sales model. Palamon led an ambitious buy-and-build strategy to roll out the John Scott model, which included the reverse take-over of Towry Law in 2006 and the acquisition of the UK subsidiary of Edward Jones in 2009, amongst others.

In 2011 the UK Financial Conduct Authority announced that the long-awaited Retail Distribution Review would be implemented in 2013 compelling the industry to abandon commissions and adopt the same fee-for-service model Towry had successfully operated for years. Palamon recognised that this disruptive regulation would provide a substantial consolidation opportunity and Towry went on to complete a further six acquisitions including the transformational take-private of Ashcourt Rowan plc in 2015, with £2.3 billion of discretionary assets under management. As a result of its highly successful M&A and organic growth strategy the Towry group has, under Palamon’s ownership, grown revenues from £5 million to more than £120 million and client assets from £250 million to more than £9 billion.

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner at Palamon, said, “It has been a tremendous experience to have executed a transformational growth strategy that saw Towry develop from a single office in Marlow with £5 million of revenue to become a leading national wealth manager with £120 million of revenue and more than £9 billion of client assets. This is another highly successful Palamon investment that demonstrates the power of our thesis-led strategy to identify, and invest into, long-term growth trends. We are delighted that the sale of Towry will deliver another break-out return of 13x for our investors. Our thanks go to the Towry management team and Board, who have executed the M&A plan to perfection and fulfilled the potential of this remarkable investment.”

Rob Devey, CEO at Towry, commented, “This sale is the culmination of our hard work over the last two years to complete the transformation of Towry to make it one of the national leaders in the UK wealth management sector. It has been a pleasure to have worked closely with Palamon over this period, during which we more than doubled the profitability of the business whilst driving strong improvements in client satisfaction. Towry and Tilney Bestinvest are an excellent fit with both firms having highly skilled teams that provide top quality financial planning and investment management services to clients. Moving forwards the combined business will be able to offer an even wider range of services for clients and career opportunities for employees in all parts of the UK.”

Palamon’s uses a thematic investment strategy to identify and invest in service-sector businesses that are well-positioned to take advantage of long-term macro-economic trends. Typically the Firm seeks to acquire Founder-owned businesses that it can help to access new levels of growth, through institutionalisation and strategic and financial support. In 2013, Palamon realised its investment in Founder-owned Cambridge Education Group for a 14.6x investment return. The Firm has continued to identify primary investment opportunities during 2015, acquiring control positions in three Founder-owned businesses: Currencies Direct, one of the largest specialist international payments providers in the UK; Il Bisonte, an Italian leather accessories brand with an established sales presence in Japan; and The Rug Company, the leading global retailer of designer luxury rugs.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), is pleased to announce the election of Alexandre (Ali) Rahmatollahi to the Partnership.

Ali Rahmatollahi joined Palamon from Morgan Stanley where he spent nearly eight years in its Investment Banking division, most recently as an Executive Director with responsibility for Financial Sponsor coverage. Prior to that he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in its General Strategy Consulting and Private Equity Practices. A Swiss-Persian national, Ali graduated from Boston University as a NCAA First Division All-American Athlete with a degree in Business Administration. He later received an MBA from Columbia University.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “On behalf of all of the Partners of Palamon, we warmly welcome Ali to our Partnership. This has been a tremendously successful year for Palamon which included the completion of three transactions worth almost €400 million in highly compelling growth companies across Europe. Ali played an instrumental role in each of those transactions reflecting the additional market reach he has brought to Palamon. We are proud that our time-tested programme of attracting stars from other industries to learn private equity investing the Palamon way has yielded another talented new Partner for our Firm.”

Ali Rahmatollahi commented: “Palamon’s reputation in the market for having the highest quality team was what initially attracted me to the Firm and it is therefore a great honour to now be elected to join the Partnership. I am hugely excited by the opportunity set for Palamon as a pan-European investor with an outstanding 17-year track record. The landscape for growth investing across Europe is clearly very deep and accessible and I am so pleased to be part of the Palamon team originating and developing such interesting transactions in this environment.”

Palamon’s investment strategy targets founder-led, services sector businesses across Europe with the potential to grow revenue at more than 20% per annum. In June 2015, Palamon acquired luxury Italian leather goods brand Il Bisonte. In November, Palamon acquired The Rug Company as part of the same investment thematic in affordable luxury retail. In December, Palamon completed the acquisition of Currencies Direct, one of the UK’s leading international providers of foreign exchange services.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has acquired a majority stake in The Rug Company (or the “Company”) from its founders Christopher and Suzanne Sharp, who will continue to hold a significant stake in the Company, and minority shareholder Piper. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Rug Company is a leading global brand in luxury handmade rugs with an established international sales presence through 10 own showrooms and a number of franchisees and concessions worldwide, generating sales of £23 million. Founded in 1997 by husband and wife team Christopher and Suzanne Sharp, the Company sells a range of more than 300 high-quality, contemporary rugs which are crafted entirely by hand, using traditional weaving techniques. The Company has built a strong reputation for design, based on its own in-house collection and through ranges developed in collaboration with iconic designers such as Alexander McQueen, Diane von Furstenberg, Kelly Wearstler, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood. Following the transaction the founders will remain actively involved in the Company.

The Rug Company operates in the £3 billion luxury & affordable luxury segment of the global rug market. Palamon’s investment stems from the Firm’s ongoing thesis work to identify well-positioned brands that can capture the shift in consumer demand toward authentic, artisanal products. The Rug Company has proven success in three of the world’s largest rug markets, US, Germany and UK; and with a rich heritage of high-quality design-led rugs, is ideally positioned to accelerate growth.

Pascal Noth, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, “We are delighted to be partnering with The Rug Company - a market leading brand in a niche retail sector with excellent growth dynamics. The Company has established a strong brand name in key global markets and is consistently recognized by interior designers for leading design and quality. With consumers increasingly seeking hand-crafted quality products with heritage we see fantastic potential in scaling the business from the strong base established by Christopher and Suzanne, into a truly global company.”

Christopher Sharp, Founder and CEO of The Rug Company commented, “We are immensely proud of the excellent reputation The Rug Company has achieved in the world of interiors, design and fashion and with the progress we have made during the past 18 years. We are delighted to be partnering with Palamon for the next stage in our development and look forward to working together. They clearly share our vision for expansion and a belief in the values that have been fundamental to the company’s success.”

Palamon’s investment strategy targets founder-led, services sector businesses across Europe with the potential to grow revenue at more than 20% per annum. The Rug Company is Palamon’s third investment during 2015. In June, Palamon acquired luxury Italian leather goods brand Il Bisonte as part of the same investment thematic into affordable luxury retail. In August, Palamon signed an agreement to acquire Currencies Direct, one of the UK’s leading international payments providers.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has appointed Katherine Ireland as an Associate Principal.

Ms Ireland joins Palamon having earned her MBA from Harvard Business School in 2015. She was previously an Associate in the London-based investment team at Centerbridge Partners with responsibility for managing European distressed credit and private equity investments. Ms Ireland began her career at Goldman Sachs International as an Analyst where she advised European industrial companies on strategy and financing. In addition to her graduate degree, Ms Ireland earned a BA in Economics and History magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Williams College, Massachusetts. She now serves on the board of the Center for Development Economics based in Williamstown.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to welcome Katherine to the Firm at this exciting time in our development. She brings creativity, experience and additional depth to our team of high-calibre investment professionals. Katherine is particularly well-suited to our thesis-led investment system which allows us to source and acquire very interesting growth companies right across Europe.”

Commenting on her appointment, Katherine Ireland commented “I am excited to be joining the Palamon team. Palamon’s entrepreneurial culture and impressive track record in growth investing make this a very compelling opportunity for me. I am looking forward to being part of the Firm and its future success.”

Ms Ireland’s appointment is the third hire to the investment team over the past 14 months, a period of high activity for the Firm. Palamon completed the exits of Prospitalia and Retail Decisions for a 3.0x and 2.5x return, respectively, while acquiring legal services group, Simplify; Italian luxury brand, Il Bisonte; and, UK foreign exchange provider, Currencies Direct. The Palamon team also led the transformational acquisition of UK wealth manager Ashcourt Rowan plc by portfolio company Towry. The strength of the underlying assets in the Palamon I and II portfolios allowed Palamon to complete a highly innovative GP-led secondary process in August 2015 which provided a transaction option at attractive pricing for fund investors seeking liquidity.

In the first quarter of 2015, Palamon mandated Credit Suisse Asset Management Limited acting through Credit Suisse Private Funds Group (“Credit Suisse”) to organise a whole-fund liquidity option for limited partners interested in selling their interests in Palamon European Equity LP (“Palamon I”) and Palamon European Equity II LP (“Palamon II”). It was Palamon’s view that organising the sale of limited partnership interests through a GP-led and transparent process, concentrated solely on the Palamon funds themselves, would secure more accretive options at attractive pricing for those investors seeking liquidity as they re-balance their private equity portfolios.

Following a competitive auction process managed by Credit Suisse, an offer book was built for the entirety of the interests in both funds, which resulted in investors who elected to access liquidity being able to do so through an easy, efficient and smooth process at highly attractive pricing – reflecting the structure of the process and the quality of the assets in each of the portfolios. Over one quarter of the aggregate NAV was exchanged, with the structure and terms of Palamon I and II remaining unchanged following the sales.

The investor group has also committed capital to a new vehicle investing alongside Palamon Auxiliary Partnership 2013, L.P., which has made investments recently in the UK legal services provider, Simplify Group, and the Italian artisanal leather accessories brand, Il Bisonte. The two vehicles have already committed to the purchase of Currencies Direct in partnership with Corsair Capital.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners said, “We could not be happier with the outcome of this process which has delivered an easy-to-access liquidity option for our existing Limited Partners at highly attractive pricing while serving to introduce a group of top-tier investors to Palamon’s on-going investment programme. Recognition should be given to Credit Suisse, who ran a process that will no doubt serve as an industry benchmark for building further alignment and fluidity into the secondary market.”

“We thank those LPs who are exiting our Funds for their support and valuable contributions over the years and extend a warm welcome to our new investors and look forward to working closely with them going forward.”

Jonathan Abecassis, from the Secondary Advisory team at Credit Suisse in London, said “Credit Suisse is delighted to have worked together with our long-standing client Palamon on a highly successful transaction. They deserve credit for their forward thinking approach to providing liquidity to their investors while securing capital from a blue-chip list of new investment partners. We believe this transaction is proof that the rapidly evolving secondary market can be utilised by successful GPs to offer transparent liquidity to their investors through an efficient, fair market process, while also attracting high quality, long-term investors to their platform”.

Since inception, Palamon has invested €1.1 billion directly and a further €800 million through co-investments in 35 high-growth companies in ten countries. The Firm targets lower mid-market businesses with a focus on growth as the principal driver of value creation. Palamon’s portfolio of investments has consistently achieved a revenue growth rate of approximately 20% per annum, a key indicator of the Firm’s successful value creation approach. Its portfolio of currently includes Towry, a leading UK wealth manager; SARquavitae, the largest residential elderly care corporate in Spain; OSG, the leading national ophthalmic surgery provider in Germany; Il Bisonte, an Italian artisanal leather accessories brand sold around the world; and Feelunique, a fast growing on-line retailer of premium beauty products based in the UK.

Palamon Capital Partners, a pan-European growth investor, and Corsair Capital, a leading private equity investor in global financial services, today announced an agreement to jointly acquire control of Currencies Direct (“The Company”), a leading specialist provider of foreign exchange (“FX”) and international payment solutions to private and corporate clients. The transaction value exceeds £200 million.

The acquisition is structured so that Currencies Direct management will increase its ownership position in the company and will also include continuing equity participation by the firm’s principal founder, Mayank B Patel OBE, who will become Honorary President.

Currencies Direct’s Private FX segment provides foreign exchange services to more than 150,000 registered retail clients. Its Corporate FX segment offers foreign exchange services to small medium enterprise (“SME”) clients for import / export-related activities across a variety of industries, including the e-commerce segment. The Company distributes its products and services through a multi-channel distribution network, which includes a strong network of affiliate partnerships. Currencies Direct has established market presences in the UK, Continental Europe, Australia, South Africa and the US, and is well positioned to continue to expand internationally. The retail and SME FX market is worth over £3 billion in the UK alone.

The specialist segment of the foreign exchange services industry is expected to grow around twice as fast as the average for the overall industry, as retail and SME customers continue to shift away from banks for their foreign exchange needs. With its superior high touch customer service and competitive pricing, Currencies Direct is well positioned to continue to benefit from this long-term industry trend.

Keith Hatton, Chief Executive of Currencies Direct, stated, “We are excited at the prospects of working with Palamon and Corsair Capital which have demonstrated their expertise in the financial services sector. They are shareholders who underscore a strong vote of confidence in the future of our company and the strategy of the management team. Their acquisition of Currencies Direct provides our company with capital, experience and global relationships to accelerate our strategy to be a leader internationally in foreign exchange and payment processing.”

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, stated, “With its established market position, attractive margins, and exciting growth potential, Currencies Direct is a signature Palamon investment and in line with our core thematics. As experienced growth investors in the consumer-facing financial services sector we look forward to partnering with the management team to provide strategic and financial support to take Currencies Direct to the next level. Currencies Direct’s proven business model, powered by its proprietary affiliate network, positions the company ideally to capitalise further on its strong momentum in this fast growing, dynamic sector.”

Lord Davies of Abersoch, Chairman of Corsair Capital, stated, “We are extremely excited about Currencies Direct. The Company has a very knowledgeable and strong management team. As part of our ongoing review of the financial services industry’s trends and themes, we identified the specialist foreign exchange and international payments industry as a growth sector: banks tend to focus less on retail and SME customers in this area, and specialist players are therefore well-positioned to gain market share and grow significantly above the average industry growth rate. Currencies Direct’s multi-channel distribution model, including its strong network of affiliates, is a key differentiator relative to other specialist international payment providers and banking competitors. Given Corsair Capital’s extensive network of relationships with financial services groups and other institutional partners, we are confident that we can provide value-add to Currencies Direct as it grows its business.”

Mayank B Patel OBE, comments, "I am proud of what Currencies Direct has achieved over the last 20 years and am confident that, given the strength of the management team and the value added expertise of Corsair Capital and Palamon Capital, the business will continue to take advantage of the growth prospects in the sector. I am delighted I will be part of Currencies Direct future as a shareholder and Honorary President."

The transaction is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2015 and is subject to applicable regulatory approvals and other conditions.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, announces that it has invested in Il Bisonte (“the Company”), a high quality Italian luxury leather accessories brand. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1970 in Florence by Wanny di Filippo, Il Bisonte is one of the few remaining independent Italian brands for hand-crafted luxury leather handbags and accessories. It is globally recognised for its artisanal products made from naturally treated, vegetable-tanned leather sourced from Sante Croce sull'Arno in Tuscany.

Il Bisonte’s footprint covers Europe, the US and Asia and the Company sells its products through a retail portfolio of over 50 sites including mono-brand boutiques and department stores. The Company has established a particularly strong presence in Asia, led by Japan where its products are sold through a rapidly growing network of more than 30 stores in partnership with listed distributor Look Inc.

Palamon’s investment in Il Bisonte stems from its ongoing thesis work in specialty retail that identified well-positioned European brands that could rapidly accelerate growth in a global market. Palamon believes Il Bisonte, an established brand in the fast-growing affordable luxury segment, offers a particularly exciting opportunity for growth through continuing geographic expansion across both developed and emerging markets and improving its distribution capabilities through retail, wholesale and online channels. Palamon’s previous investments in the specialty retail sector include: dress-for-less, a German online retailer for designer apparel, and feelunique.com, the leading pure-play online retailer of premium beauty products in the UK.

Following the transaction, Wanny di Filippo will remain President of Il Bisonte and on its board and continue to lead the design of future collections. The Company has appointed Giuseppe Bonfiglio as CEO. Mr Bonfiglio has built an extensive career in leading a number of international luxury and fashion brands and was most recently CEO of Harry’s of London, the luxury footwear brand. Previously, he was President and CEO of US luxury handbag and accessories brand Lambertson Truex and Commercial Director of Bottega Veneta.

Commenting on the investment, Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to be able to partner with Wanny di Filippo and Il Bisonte, a Company which has genuine heritage, deep artisanal expertise and a strong brand with proven global appeal. We look forward to building on the current success and fulfil its growth potential.”

Wanny di Fillipo, founder and President of Il Bisonte added: "I could not be happier to have found in Palamon strategic partners who share my vision for the future of Il Bisonte. Their understanding and appreciation of the unique strengths of the business, coupled with their knowledge of how to introduce the company to a broader range of customers while ensuring it remains true to its roots in Tuscan leather craftsmanship, convinced me that they can help to deliver continued success.”

Il Bisonte is Palamon’s 35th investment since the Firm’s founding in 1999. To date, the Firm has invested almost €1.1 billion in lower mid-market companies across 10 European countries, with a focus on growth as the principal driver of value creation.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), a pan-European growth investor, has appointed Mina Mutafchieva as an Associate Principal.

Ms Mutafchieva joins Palamon from McKinsey & Company where she was an Engagement Manager in the firm’s Belgium office. She was with McKinsey for five years and latterly she specialised in leading strategy development and commercial transformation projects on behalf of companies in the financial services sector. Ms Mutafchieva graduated from the London School of Economics with a First Class Honours in International Relations and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mina to Palamon. We have a strong track record in attracting talented industry professionals and developing their full potential within the Firm as skilled growth investors. With her strong sector specialism in financial services and pan-European experience, Mina will play an important role in building our investment capability across Europe and supporting the growth of our existing portfolio companies.”

Commenting on her appointment, Mina Mutafchieva said: “I am thrilled to be joining such a well-regarded firm as Palamon, which has been a pioneer in growth investing in Europe. I look forward to the exciting opportunities this new role will bring.”

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of POLIKUM GmbH (“POLIKUM” or “the Company”), a German operator of outpatient health clinics (OHCs) to SANA, a leading private-sector hospitals operator in Germany.

Founded in 2004, POLIKUM manages a network of four OHCs in Berlin and Leipzig, which provide ambulatory general medicine and specialities including paediatrics, physiotherapy and cardiology to statutory and private patients. Following a series of reforms to the German healthcare market to improve efficiency and reduce costs by promoting outpatient care, POLIKUM has played a pioneering role in the rapidly growing multi-site OHC sector.

Since Palamon’s acquisition of POLIKUM in 2009, the Company has tripled revenues from €11 million to €33 million for 2014 and significantly improved its site-by-site performance. Key to this success was Palamon’s decision to strengthen the Company’s management team, reduce its cost base and fund the acquisition of an additional clinic in Berlin and a second regional cluster in Leipzig. As a result, POLIKUM today employs over 500 staff, including 130 physicians and treats over 500,000 patients per annum.

Pascal Noth, Partner at Palamon, commented, “Under our ownership, POLIKUM has been transformed from an early-stage investment into one of the leaders in the German outpatient market. With its fast-growing patient base, robust operating model and proven track record in delivering high-quality care, POLIKUM generated strong interest from the largest healthcare and hospital providers. We wish the team continued success with their new strategic partners.”

Stephan Kewenig, CEO of POLIKUM, commented, “Palamon’s support and strategic insight has been invaluable in establishing POLIKUM as a leading operator in the outpatient sector in Germany. We are now in a position to offer a broader range of support to patients throughout Berlin and Leipzig, and we look forward to working with SANA to capture the next stage of growth.”

Healthcare is an important investment theme for Palamon, which has committed more than €200 million to the sector over the past seven years. The Firm has invested across Europe in a range of market-leading businesses such as; SARquavitae, Spain’s largest elderly care provider with 12,000 staff; IDH, the largest dental corporate in the UK with more than 600 practices; Prospitalia, the leading Group Purchasing Organisation in Germany; and OberScharrer Group, the leading ophthalmology group in Germany.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), has strengthened its team with the appointments of Ali (Alexandre) Rahmatollahi as Associate Partner and Christian Beck as a member of the Firm’s Board of Advisors.

Ali Rahmatollahi joins Palamon from Morgan Stanley where he spent nearly eight years in its Investment Banking division, most recently as an Executive Director with responsibility in the Financial Sponsor Group. Prior to this he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in its General Strategy Consulting and Private Equity Practices. Ali also co-founded OP Capital Partners, a Middle Eastern opportunity fund, in 2004. A Swiss national, he graduated NCAA First Division All-American Athlete in Business Administration and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Christian A. Beck is a highly experienced entrepreneur who has been Chief Executive of several growth businesses including Banqsoft ASA, Sakhalin Petroleum and Small Shops Gruppen, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company. Over the past 10 years, Mr Beck has played a deep and active role in Palamon’s Scandinavian portfolio development serving as Founder Chairman of Nordax Finans, a 2004 start-up in the consumer loans industry which generated a 3.8x return, Chairman of Espresso House, built from 22 branded coffee outlets to 120 with a 3.4x investment return. He is currently Chairman of Norwegian-based Eneas Energy A/S.

Mr Beck joins 14 other accomplished business leaders on Palamon’s Board of Advisers originating from seven countries and whose expertise covers the range of sectors in which the Firm invests.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Ali and Christian to our Firm. Christian has already contributed a tremendous amount to Palamon’s past successes and we are certain that his new role will enable him to extend his expertise and influence across more of our investment activities. Ali brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, relationships and the international investing capability which will enhance our ability to execute deals across the European continent.”

Ali Rahmatollahi commented: “Over the past decade I have worked with the vast majority of top tier sponsors originating and executing transactions in Europe. What has always impressed me with Palamon is the quality and calibre of its people. I am truly delighted to be joining this exceptional team and look forward to the opportunities ahead.”

Christian Beck commented: “I am very pleased to have this opportunity to deepen my relationship with Palamon. Having worked closely with the Firm for over a decade I have been impressed with how its growth investing model has been so successfully applied in the European mid-market. I am very much looking forward to being part of the Firm’s future growth.”

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of Retail Decisions (“ReD”) to ACI Worldwide for $205 million, subject to regulatory approvals. The sale will result in total Sterling investment returns for Palamon of 2.5 times invested capital.

ReD is a leading global provider of payment fraud prevention technology and services to merchants, card issuers, acquirers and processors. The Company’s flagship product ReD Shield®, a real-time, on-line fraud prevention solution, is used by large e-commerce and multi-channel merchants in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, to boost on-line revenues while reducing fraud losses. Headquartered in the UK, ReD is a leader in several key country markets, including the US where it screens over 25% of e-commerce transactions.

Palamon acquired ReD in a take-private in December 2006 alongside co-investors, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and AlpInvest. At the time of its acquisition, in addition to its payments fraud prevention business, ReD operated fuel and gift card businesses in Europe and Australia. Following the global financial crisis, Palamon fully de- levered the company and returned 80% of invested equity through three separate division sales: the UK Fuel Cards business in August 2009, the Australian businesses in September 2010 and the European fuel card business in March 2011. As a final phase of the investment, Palamon devised a strategy to accelerate growth in the remaining payments fraud prevention business focused on strengthening management and committing to significant investment in product innovation and partner channel expansion.

Under the leadership of Paul Stanley, recruited as CEO in mid-2011, ReD launched several innovative solutions such as ReD Fraud Xchange, an on-line platform that enables real-time collaboration between merchants and issuers in the fight against payment fraud, and ReDi, an interactive, self-service business intelligence tool for e-commerce transactions. In parallel, the Company significantly broadened its partner channel across the globe and today has partnership agreements with leading payments companies such as Global Collect, First Data, FIS, EVO Payments, Worldline, Sage Pay, Yapital, PayU and UOLDIVEO.

Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, Partner at Palamon, commented, “As the largest investment in the Palamon II portfolio, ReD has been a highly successful result for Palamon. Having de- levered the business and returned most of our invested capital through the early divisional divestments, we were able to focus on the “jewel in the crown”; the global fraud prevention business. We successfully delivered on our investment thesis by backing a highly scalable SaaS business model with transaction-based revenue and we are delighted with the results achieved.”

Paul Stanley, CEO at ReD, commented, “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Palamon and are proud of the results we have achieved together. Their understanding of the e- commerce space combined with their experience in payments and enterprise software was invaluable in establishing ReD as a global leader in fraud prevention. Significant investments in new products and sales channels have further strengthened our global platform and we are well placed to continue delivering strong growth. We look forward to working with ACI Worldwide in the next phase of our development.”

Palamon has successfully invested in the e-commerce and software services space through portfolio companies such as: dress-for-less, one of Europe’s leading on-line fashion retailers; feelunique.com, Europe’s largest premium beauty e-tailer and TeamSystem, a leading Italian SME software provider.

Advisers to Palamon:

M&A and Financial Adviser: Legal Adviser:

Enquiries:

About ReD

ReD is a world leader in fraud prevention, with solutions that are present at every stage of the payments value chain, supporting merchants and PSPs, issuers and acquirers, processors and switch networks in the fight against fraud. ReD protects billions of transactions across multiple channels and payment types with proprietary technology that is underpinned by world class fraud and risk analysts and pooled data from more than 190 countries. ReD serves customers from multiple sectors and across six continents from offices in Australia, China, Dubai, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States, and through partners around the globe.

PS S.à r.l. which is majority-owned by the funds managed by Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), has successfully disposed of its investment in PS TopCo GmbH to an undisclosed investor. PS TopCo GmbH is a parent of Prospitalia GmbH (“Prospitalia” or the “Company”). Palamon is one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms and, over the term of its investment in PS S.à r.l., has generated a return of 3.0x on capital invested.

Prospitalia is the leading Group Purchasing Organisation (“GPO”) in Germany, providing procurement services to more than 900 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country to help lower the cost of goods purchased. The Company currently reports a pooled purchasing volume of €1.2 billion. Palamon originally invested in PS S.à r.l. when the majority of acute hospitals did not use GPO services, with the thesis that significant additional market penetration was inevitable as pressures on healthcare budgets would necessitate cost saving measures. Purchasing volumes for German GPOs are reported to have grown between 5% and 10% per year and today, surveys show that more than 60% of German acute hospital beds are served by GPOs.

Healthcare is an important investment theme for Palamon, which has committed more than €200 million to the sector over the past seven years. The Firm has invested across Europe in a range of market-leading businesses such as; SARquavitae, Spain’s largest elderly care provider with 12,000 staff; IDH, the largest dental corporate in the UK with more than
550 practices; POLIKUM, a leading provider of outpatient healthcare in Germany; and OberScharrer Group, the leading ophthalmology group in Germany.

Pascal Noth, Partner at Palamon, commented, “We are delighted with the success of our investment in Prospitalia, which has returned 3.0x on invested capital. Prospitalia is the number one GPO in Germany and has built out its position with a strong reputation for the quality of services it provides. We thank the management team for driving the business to where it is today and wish them well for the future.”

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, said, “Our success in this investment once again demonstrates the effectiveness of our thesis-led investment approach to identify, invest into, and grow market-leading companies across Europe. Prospitalia was Palamon’s first investment in the healthcare industry; an investment area in which we have now established a strong track record.”

Palamon has completed eight realisations from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, which has to date produced proceeds of €708 million at a return of 2.8x multiple of invested capital on fully exited companies. Palamon invests in high growth businesses and has a strong track record with its portfolio companies achieving an average revenue growth of 19% per annum for the past 10 years.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) has received recognition in the private equity industry’s leading awards for its investment in Cambridge Education Group (“CEG”).

CEG is today one of the leading providers of pre-University education, originally identified in 2007 by Palamon and acquired off-market from its husband-and-wife founder team. Palamon institutionalised the management team, developed strategy, built infrastructure and provided the financial and strategic support to rapidly grow over the six-year hold period. Cambridge Education Group was realised by Palamon in December 2013 generating a 14.6x return on invested capital and an IRR of 58%. The investment has won two of the leading industry awards:

Private Equity International Awards 2013: Exit of the Year in Europe Private Equity Awards 2014: UK Small Deal of the Year

In addition, Private Equity News shortlisted the investment as one of the top 25 deals of the last decade (link) and CEG received Education Investor Award, 2013 for Private Schools Operator.

Pascal Noth, Partner at Palamon, said: “We are extremely proud of our achievements with Cambridge Education Group and grateful to the exceptional management team that so successfully delivered our business plan. We continue to be excited about the opportunities that the education sector holds for investment out of our new fund.”

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, added: “We are delighted to have garnered such strong recognition for this investment. Most importantly, this follows similar awards and recognitions achieved now in multiple European countries, including Scandinavia and the DACH region. Our investment success is truly pan-European.”

Palamon won Private Equity Awards 2013: Nordic Deal of the Year for its exit of Espresso House and unquote” DACH Private Equity Awards 2011: German Buyout Deal of the Year for its sale of Dress-for-less. The Firm was also shortlisted for Private Equity Awards 2010, DACH Deal of the Year for Loyalty Partner and Nordic Deal of the Year for Nordax.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), is pleased to announce the election of Julian Carreras, Pascal Jean-Noël Noth and Gary Pritchard to the Partnership.

Julian Carreras, previously a Principal, originally joined Palamon in 2003 from Goldman Sachs. A Spanish National, he has consistently played an important role in executing the Firm’s investment strategy across continental Europe with a particular focus on Spain and Italy. He sits on the board of SARquavitae, Spain’s largest provider of elderly care, where he also serves on the Executive Committee. He is also active in a board capacity in Palamon portfolio companies EnGrande in Spain, Sigla in Italy and Quality Solicitors in the UK.

Pascal Jean-Noel Noth, also previously a Principal, joined the Palamon Investment Team in 2009 also from Goldman Sachs. A Swiss National, he has been a principal deal manager across a range of sectors and country markets with a concentration on German-speaking continental Europe. He has been singularly responsible for the significant financial and strategic achievements of Prospitalia and POLIKUM, both Palamon healthcare companies operating in Germany. He has also been actively engaged at board level in OberScharrer Group and Cambridge Education Group, where he played an instrumental part in its development and recent exit.

Gary Pritchard joined Palamon in 2008 as the Firm’s CFO and was promoted to Managing Director in 2011. Since that time, he has had management responsibility for financial controls, structuring, tax and regulatory compliance for both the Firm and its Funds.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “It is always a great delight for a private partnership to elect new partners, especially ones who have contributed as significantly as Julian, Pascal and Gary. We look forward to the tremendous value we know these individuals will add in the coming period as we continue delivering successfully on our growth investment strategy.”

Palamon recently announced the sixth exit from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, with the agreed sale of Cambridge Education Group for a 14.6x return on invested capital, £141 million capital gain and 58% IRR. Palamon II to date has generated cash proceeds of €660 million and a 3.6x return and 28% IRR on fully realised investments. Palamon II still has €60 million of capital available for investment and 11 high growth companies remaining in its portfolio, including; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based and on-line transactions; IDH, the largest NHS dental practice group in the UK and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

About the new Partners

Julian Carreras re-joined Palamon in 2011, having first served the Firm between 2003 and 2006. He became a Partner in January 2014. Mr Carreras is a Spanish national, and is fluent in English, French and Italian, with a working knowledge of Portuguese. He initially joined Palamon from Goldman Sachs and before that he was with McKinsey & Co. Between 2006 and 2011 he held positions with Cinven in London and Thesan Capital in Madrid. Mr Carreras obtained MSc degrees from Polytechnic University of Milan, Ecole Centrale Paris and Polytechnic University of Madrid. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.

Pascal J. Noth joined Palamon Capital Partners in March 2009, becoming a Partner in January 2014. He is a Swiss national, fluent in English and German. Mr Noth joined from the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs & Co where he was an Associate in its London office. Prior to this, he was Project Manager for The Monitor Group, where he was involved with both its global management consultancy and global mid-market private equity fund. Mr Noth graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) with a BSc in Biochemistry and an MSc in Neuroscience and Economics. He also holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD where he was the Roche MBA Fellow of the Year.

Gary Pritchard joined Palamon Capital Partners as Chief Financial Officer in March 2008 and became a Partner in January 2014. He joined Palamon from Catlin Group, the international specialty insurance and reinsurance group. There he worked for 12 years in a number of positions, including as CFO of the UK division and Head of Finance Operations. He graduated from the University of Hull with a BSc in Economics & Accounting and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1995 having started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

About Palamon Capital Partners

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Germany, Benelux, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can be the lead private equity provider and where it can provide strategic direction and partner with management to help build equity value. The Firm manages funds with €1.3 billion of equity capital for investment.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) today announces the appointment of Philippe Arbour as Managing Director of Structured Finance and Antony Barker as Director of Investor Relations and Marketing.

Philippe Arbour joins Palamon having spent ten years with Lloyds Banking Group, where he worked in a variety of roles spanning trade finance, specialist credit and leveraged finance. Most recently, he was a Director in the Leveraged Finance & High Yield team. In 2006, he was a founding member of the large-cap sponsor coverage and LBO execution team, which would go on to become a market leader in European leveraged finance. Between 2010 and 2011 he was seconded to 3i Plc. as a Director in its Banking Team. Mr Arbour holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in addition to having earned an MSc Finance & Investment from Durham University and a BBA (Hon.economics) from Bishop’s University, Canada.

Antony Barker re-joins Palamon from global placement agent Campbell Lutyens and DMC Partners, where he was an Investor Relations Associate based in London. Prior to that, he spent five years at Palamon, working across the breadth of Investor Relations and Marketing activities. Mr Barker gained a BEng from the University of Bath following which he served at the Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Laboratories.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We could not be more delighted to welcome Philippe and welcome back Antony. Each is a consummate professional who brings talent and expertise to our team. Both share the high standards for excellence for which Palamon has become known. Importantly, Philippe has worked with a wide range of private equity deal sizes and structures during his career at Lloyds as well as inside 3i which makes him perfectly suited to Palamon’s signature range of mid-market transactions. Antony returns to us having gained invaluable experience which will widen our perspective and enhance our ability to support our investors.

Philippe Arbour commented: “I am very pleased to be joining Palamon following the raise of its innovative €210 million, two-year auxiliary fund. The Firm is entering a very exciting period as it makes some substantial realisations, executes key re-financings within the portfolio and transacts on its strong pipeline of primary deals and add-on acquisitions. I am thrilled to be joining such a high-calibre pan-European team.”

Antony Barker commented: “I am delighted to be back at Palamon. The portfolio is in great condition and the Firm’s track record is getting even stronger. Palamon has maintained robust support from a dedicated core of sophisticated investors during a period of uncertainty in the European markets. But there are now clear signs of a resurging appetite for European private equity managers as the perception of the region improves and investors look to re- balance their allocations. We will be well positioned for our future return to the market.”

Palamon recently announced the sixth exit from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, with the agreed sale of Cambridge Education Group for a 14.6x return on invested capital, £141 million capital gain and 58% IRR. Palamon II to date has generated cash proceeds of €660 million and a 3.6x return and 28% IRR on fully realised investments. Palamon II still has €60 million of capital available for investment and 11 high growth companies remaining in its portfolio, including; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based and on-line transactions; IDH, the largest NHS dental practice group in the UK and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon"), a leading lower mid-market European private equity firm, has agreed the sale of its majority stake in Cambridge Education Group ("CEG" or "the Group") to Bridgepoint. The sale will generate a return on investment for Palamon of 14.6 times, with a capital gain of £141 million and an IRR of 58%.

Cambridge Education Group is a leading player in the international schools market, providing pre-university education to students from over 95 countries via its global recruiting network. It forms part of the rapidly growing UK education export industry, which is estimated to be worth £17.5 billion and one of the ten largest export segments in the country.

Palamon originally sourced its investment in CEG directly from the founding team of Nick Golding and Elizabeth and Ann Armstrong in 2007. At that time CEG taught 460 academic students per year across two campuses in Cambridge and Canterbury. Today, CEG teaches over 3,000 academic students and thousands of short-term English language students each year across its four divisions in three countries. In excess of 75% of CATS students gain entry into top ranked universities each year.

During Palamon's ownership, CEG has grown revenues five-fold to an estimated £90 million for the academic year 2013-14. This growth has been exclusively organic as the management team expanded its teaching capacity, signed on new sites and focused on providing the highest standards of education to its primarily international customer base.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, commented: "We are very proud of having played an important part in building CEG into a leading brand with a dominant position in the education sector. This is a classic 'breakaway' Palamon investment. We identified an unusual opportunity in a small business context with strong potential and combined it with exceptional management talent to deliver explosive long-term growth. I speak for the various Palamon team members who conceived and transacted on the CEG investment, including Dan Mytnik who gave invaluable guidance to the company throughout its development, in recognising the great achievement of CEO Fergus Brownlee and his Chairman Stephen Warshaw. We wish Fergus and his team continued success with their new partners."

Fergus Brownlee, Chief Executive of CEG, added: "We are delighted with what we have been able to achieve during the past seven years with the close and supportive collaboration of our partner, Palamon. We have taken CEG from being a small UK platform to a market leading brand with an international presence and are now looking forward to working with Bridgepoint to capture the next stage of growth."

Stephen Warshaw, Chairman of CEG, added: "This is a tremendous result for the management team here at CEG, who have worked so hard to build the business by expanding teaching capability and entering new sectors and markets, whilst delivering high standards of educational and pastoral care. We have benefited from a highly successful partnership with Palamon, whose strategic vision and financial expertise have been invaluable in the evolution and growth of CEG."

This is Palamon's sixth exit from its €670 million 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, which to date has generated cash proceeds of €660 million and a 3.6x return and 28% IRR on fully realised investments. Palamon II still has 11 high growth companies remaining in its portfolio, including; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based and on-line transactions; IDH, the largest NHS dental practice group in the UK and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

Palamon Capital Partners, L.P., one of Europe’s leading lower mid-market private equity firms, today announces the close of the Palamon Auxiliary Partnership 2013, L.P. and its coinvestment programme ("The Auxiliary Fund") with commitments of €210 million.

The Auxiliary Fund is structured with an innovative two year investment term. Palamon will use The Auxiliary Fund exclusively for new investments, enabling it to maintain its historic annual investment rate for new deals of €100 million.

The Auxiliary Fund will pursue control equity investments of €15 million to €80 million in mid-market growth services businesses across Europe in the same manner and style as the Firm has done successfully since 1999.

The Auxiliary Fund received commitments from a diversified group of over 20 investors including fund-of-funds leader Adams Street Partners, the corporate pension plan of Honeywell, global private equity investors AlpInvest Partners and Quilvest and the endowment of Spelman College. This pool of immediate use capital represents a significant share of the only €1.6 billion raised for European growth capital investment in the last year 1.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said, "We could not be more pleased that our core investors supported us in this innovative funding structure. We applaud them for their creative thinking and thank them for their confidence in us and our proven investment strategy. Taken together with the remaining capital in our predecessor fund, we have €270 million to invest over the next two years. We expect to have a significant impact on the growth equity market in Europe which continues to suffer from restricted capital. We are seeing many compelling opportunities in our space."

Annette Wilson, Managing Director of Investor Relations at Palamon, added, "Palamon’s strong fourteen year track record of growth investing across Europe has allowed us to secure solid funding in a severely capital constrained fundraising environment. We are delighted that the majority of the commitments were made by existing investors and are also very pleased to welcome a number of new investors."

Since inception, Palamon has completed 33 investments in ten countries. Palamon’s portfolio of investments has consistently achieved a revenue growth rate of approximately 20 per cent per annum, a key indicator of the Firm’s successful value creation approach. Its portfolio of growth companies currently includes Cambridge Education Group, a leading pre-university education group based in the UK; Retail Decisions, a global fraud prevention provider for card-based transactions; SARquavitae, the largest residential elderly care corporate in Spain and OberScharrer Group, a leading ophthalmic healthcare business in Germany.

Note 1: Source - Extract from Prequin fundraising database as at September 2013

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and Palamon Capital Partners today announced the acquisition of DBG (UK) Limited (“dbg”) from Synova Capital. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Operating for over 20 years, dbg is a specialist healthcare support services provider of training, compliance support, engineering services, materials and equipment. Using a membership- based model, dbg works alongside over 8,000 dental, GP and veterinary practices throughout the UK, and is headquartered in Winsford, Cheshire.

Eric Kump, Managing Director at Carlyle said “dbg is a well-established business delivering clear benefits to its members, customers and suppliers. Carlyle and Palamon have a strong track record in this sector, having acquired Integrated Dental Holdings (“IDH”) in 2011. While the two businesses will be part of the same investment vehicle, dbg will remain independent and will benefit from the expertise of the investors.”

Jonathan Heathcote, Partner at Palamon, added “The existing management team has done a great job of delivering strong business performance and we look forward to building on this in the future as we explore the further growth opportunities in this sector.”

Speaking on the transaction, Managing Director of dbg, Kanesh Khilosia, commented “We are delighted to be partnering with Carlyle and Palamon. They strongly support our strategy to continue to grow and diversify dbg’s services and support our members whose interests remain first and foremost. Carlyle and Palamon bring a wealth of sector experience, which will build upon that of the existing management. The prospect of greater co-operation with IDH, which operates the largest healthcare practise network in the UK, will significantly add to our ability to provide a superior, cost effective service to our members.”

Philip Shapiro, Managing Partner at Synova commented “We are very pleased with the completion of our successful investment in dbg. Since we acquired dbg in 2010, the membership base has more than doubled and profits have trebled. We thank the dbg management team and staff for their valuable contribution and hard work. Carlyle and Palamon have a clear vision and ability to continue this growth.”

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $170 billion of assets under management across 113 funds and 67 fund of fund vehicles as of December 31, 2012. Carlyle's purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pension funds. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Fund of Funds Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs 1,400 people in 33 offices across six continents.

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, France, and Germany. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can achieve double digit growth and where the Partnership’s experienced principals can provide strategic direction and support to help build equity value. The Firm manages Palamon European Equity, L.P. and Palamon European Equity II, L.P., capitalised at €1.1 billion dedicated to growth investment opportunities in Europe’s lower mid-market.

Synova invests in smaller UK growth opportunities with a particular focus on companies valued at between £5 million and £30 million. Key verticals include Business Services, Software & IT Services, Consumer & Leisure and Healthcare & Education.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading growth private equity firms, has elected Jean Bonnavion and Ricardo Caupers to the Partnership.

Mr Bonnavion, a French national, joined Palamon in 2005 and has been involved in a broad number of investments across Europe since joining. Last year he played a key role in the successful debt refinancing and equity fund raising of portfolio company, Towry, a UK wealth advisory company to prepare the company for its next growth phase. Prior to joining Palamon he spent eight years at Bain & Company working in Paris and London and prior to that he worked for the French Railways in London for two years as part of the Eurostar marketing team. Mr Bonnavion graduated from ESSEC in Paris and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr Caupers, a Portuguese national, joined Palamon in 2009 and most recently was involved
in Palamon’s investment in feelunique, which was concluded in December 2012. feelunique is one of Europe's fastest growing on-line beauty retailers and was named in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 companies of 2012. Prior to joining Palamon, he spent seven years at the Boston Consulting Group, where he was based in both London and New York. Mr Caupers graduated from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon with a BA in Business Administration and Finance and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

The London-based Firm, which has a multi-cultural team of 17 investment professionals representing 11 nationalities. 2012 was another strong year of performance having concluded two new investments and three realisation events. Portfolio performance was strong, achieving double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth if taken on a weighted average.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, said: “We are delighted to welcome both Jean and Ricardo as Partners. We are very proud of their accomplishments and so pleased to be adding two more home-grown deal makers to the Partnership. Now, nearly all of our Partners are Palamon-born and bred, a reflection of the quality and calibre of our pan-European team focusing on growth investing."

Commenting on his appointment, Jean Bonnavion said: “I am thrilled to have been elected to the Partnership. I am proud to be part of a team of a highly regarded professionals operating with an entrepreneurial mind set yet within a disciplined and effective investment process. I look forward to contribute to the further success of the Firm.”

Commenting on his appointment, Ricardo Caupers said: “I am delighted to be joining the Partnership and have the opportunity to add further value to the Firm. It has been a rewarding experience to be in a Firm with a stimulating and dynamic environment where we have an exceptional capability to deliver deal flow from the primary markets by partnering with entrepreneurs. I look forward to the next stage.”

Palamon identifies and invests in high growth services businesses across Europe, the majority of which are founder-led and sourced directly by the Firm’s strong proprietary deal flow from the primary markets. Since the Firm’s inception in 1999 Palamon’s portfolio companies have achieved revenue growth on average of 20% per annum. Palamon’s investments, which span over 10 countries in Europe, include a diverse range of businesses including Espresso House, a Swedish branded coffee chain which was exited in 2012, Cambridge Education, a UK education business, Prospitalia, German’s leading group purchasing provider and SARquavitae, the leading provider of care for the elderly in Spain.

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm") is pleased to announce that portfolio company Towry Group Limited ("Towry" or the "Company") has raised £35 million of new equity to provide additional funding for the Company's expansion plans. The investment was made by two Palamon co-investors, AlpInvest Partners B.V. and Honeywell Capital Management LLC.

The new Retail Distribution Review (RDR) regulation, effective from 1 January 2013, is driving changes in the UK wealth advice sector and providing significant opportunities for Towry to accelerate acquisitions and adviser recruitment. Towry has made 10 acquisitions since Palamon's initial investment in 2003 and grown its adviser base from 13 to 144 and its assets under management from £250 million to £4.6 billion. Today, the Company has annual revenue of over £80 million and provides fee-based wealth advice and discretionary asset fund management services to over 25,000 clients.

The successful new fundraising complements the recent £47.5 million of financing lines secured earlier in the year from Macquarie Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Andrew Fisher, Chief Executive of Towry said, "We have exciting expansion plans as we see enormous opportunities arising from the RDR. The new capital raised gives us a solid base from which to execute our plans for further growth.".

Gerald Corbett, Chairman of Towry added, "With the strength of Towry's offering to its clients and its experienced management team, I am certain that it will successfully implement its expansion plans and generate excellent returns. We welcome AlpInvest and Honeywell Capital as shareholders and appreciate their confidence in our Company.".

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner at Palamon, commented, "The support from such high calibre institutional investors is a testament to the strength of Towry's business model, its track record and its tremendous growth potential. We are delighted to continue our work with Towry's management as they continue to expand their presence in the UK wealth management sector."

Palamon Capital Partners ("Palamon" or the "Firm"), a pan-European growth investor, led the transaction to acquire a majority interest in beauty e-commerce specialist feelunique.com ("feelunique" or the "Company"), one of Europe's fastest growing on-line beauty retailers. The transaction was agreed at a head-line enterprise value for feelunique of £26 million.

feelunique is a leading on-line retailer of premium products in haircare, skincare, cosmetics and fragrances, selling full-permissioned stock from almost all of the major brands including Dior, Lancôme, Clarins, Guerlain, Yves Saint Laurent, Benefit and Kerastase. The Company has built a strong reputation for its customer service and website editorial content, which is directed by Newby Hands, a beauty journalist and Harper's Bazaar Beauty Director-at-Large. It was founded in 2005 and employs more than 125 staff at its headquarters and logistics centre in the Channel Islands.

Palamon will purchase a majority shareholding from the founders and earlier-stage investors and will provide further capital to support the Company's growth plan. Sirius Equity will invest alongside Palamon in the transaction. Following Palamon's investment, Sirius co-founders Robert Bensoussan will join the Board of the Company as Chairman and Jim Sharp will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director. Mr Bensoussan also is Chairman of L K Bennett, a board member of Interparfums and former investor in and CEO of Jimmy Choo.

Palamon's and Sirius' investment stems from the strong underlying growth in the on-line beauty retail segment driven by the increasing shift in consumer spend to on-line, as occurred in the fashion retail sector. feelunique is also taking significant market share by progressively expanding its product range and increasing loyalty through its customer-centric model. This has driven growth in Company sales by more than 40% per year to more than £30 million of annual revenue.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon commented: "We are delighted to be investing in feelunique, a high growth business that is ideally placed to benefit from the fast expanding on-line retail beauty sector with its established platform, a strong business model and entrepreneurial management team. We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with founders, Aaron Chatterley and Richard Schiessl, and to welcome Robert Bensoussan and Jim Sharp to the Board. The expertise of Robert and Jim in the luxury branded sector will be invaluable in taking the business to the next level."

Aaron Chatterley, CEO of feelunique, said: "We are excited to have gained the backing of Palamon whose expertise in the on-line retail space convinced us that they would be ideal partners. Given our ambitious growth plans and the size of the opportunity, it was important to partner with a firm that had both the financial resources and a clear vision of how the market will evolve. We now look forward to working closely with our new partners as we turn our vision of expansion into reality."

Robert Bensoussan, newly appointed Chairman of feelunique commented "feelunique has developed an incredibly strong platform through the hard work of Aaron and Richard and their team. We believe there is a very exciting opportunity to develop the business and I am excited to be partnering with Palamon and the management team to help the business fulfil its potential".

Palamon identifies and invests in high growth services businesses across Europe, the majority of which are founder-led and sourced directly by the Firm's strong proprietary deal flow network. Since the Firm's inception in 1999 Palamon's portfolio companies have achieved revenue growth on average of 20% per annum.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) has appointed John David as Managing Director, Investment Strategy. Mr David joins Palamon’s pan-European team, all based in London, to advance the firm's thematic investment model which proactively identifies and partners high growth service businesses across Europe.

Mr David joins Palamon from Allstate Investments where he spent seven years, latterly as Global Strategist and Head of the London Office. Previously, he was a Senior Portfolio Manager for seven years at Northwestern Investment Management Company. This followed a ten year career in derivatives research and trading roles with top-tier global financial institutions. Mr David graduated from Harvard University with a degree in American History and he holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon, commented: “We are delighted to welcome John to Palamon. His ability to read broad macro trends and translate them into specific and targeted investment strategies is ideally suited for our investment model. His skills will further augment our strong capability to develop investment themes and identify niche sub sectors in Europe where growth can drive returns.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr David said: “I am excited to be joining the Palamon team. I have been impressed by the Firm’s ability to generate high quality deal flow through its proprietary, thesis-based investment model. I was drawn to the Firm’s impressive track record of developing macro investment themes and successfully using them to create market leading companies. I look forward to working with the team on these investment themes to generate robust returns in the current market environment.”

Palamon recently realised its investment in Espresso House, a chain of branded coffee bars that it had built over a six year period from 22 to 128 outlets. The investment was made following an in-depth search across Europe to find the most suitable market to initiate the theme of branded coffee bars. Sweden was selected as it had one of the highest coffee consumptions per capita in Europe and a relatively low penetration of branded coffee bars. The investment generated a 3.4x return on invested capital. Palamon’s second fund has generated 2.6x return through its five realisations, all of which were thesis driven investments

Towry Group Limited (“Towry” or the “Company”), portfolio company of Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), has concluded a transaction with Macquarie Bank (“Macquarie”) and Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”), to provide a £47.3 million financing package. The proceeds of the debt issuance, which comprised £42.5 million of senior and junior loans provided by Macquarie and

£4.8 million of additional senior debt provided by RBS, one of Towry’s existing lenders, were used to replace a mezzanine debt facility.

Towry is a growing independently-owned Wealth Advice business in the UK with £4.6 billion of Assets under Management (“AuM”). Since Palamon’s initial investment in 2003, revenue has grown more than 35% per year. The Company provides fee-based financial advice and discretionary asset fund management services to more than 25,000 clients.

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented, “The improved efficiency of the capital structure of Towry is a testament to the strength of its business, which since our initial investment has grown Assets under Management by almost 40% per year to £4.6 billion through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. The financing structure provides a sound basis from which further expansion can take place to continue the Company’s high rate of profit growth and solidify its position as a national leader in the IFA sector.”

Anthony Gardner, Managing Director of Structured Finance at Palamon Capital Partners, said, “Together with management we have arranged new financing from Macquarie and additional financing from RBS, Towry’s longstanding and highly supportive lender. Securing this long-term debt package significantly reduces the financing costs to the business and validates the Company’s track record of growth in revenue and profitability.”

Florian Herold, Co-Head of Macquarie European Lending, commented, “We believe Towry is a well- regarded, high growth company with strong recurring revenue streams. Working closely with the management team at Towry and Palamon, we are delighted to have been able to develop and put in place a financing structure that meets their specific needs.”

Palamon focuses on making equity investments in high growth European service sector businesses with its portfolio averaging annual growth rates of 20% in revenue and 40% in EBITDA since the Firm’s inception in 1999. The Firm has a strong track record of securing financing for its portfolio companies, built on strong relationships with a diverse range of lenders and the strength of the businesses that its growth focused model creates. Most recently, the Firm’s portfolio company Cambridge Education Group, a leading provider of pre-University education, completed a

£23.5 million refinancing package with RBS.

Towry Group Limited

Towry is a growing wealth advice firm, employing approximately 650 people in 18 offices across the United Kingdom. Towry offers fee based, independent financial advice and investment management services to private individuals with investable assets in excess of £100,000 and has £4.6 billion of Assets under Management,.

Macquarie CAF Lending's European team provides innovative financing solutions to corporate, financial sponsor and real estate clients across Western and Central Europe. The team has invested more than
€4 billion since early 2009, expanding its market share in view of the increased demand for debt facilities as many other banking institutions have not been able to participate in the market.

The RBS Group is a large international banking and financial services company. From its headquarters in Edinburgh, the Group serves over 30 million customers in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. RBS is the leading provider of total debt solutions to the international leveraged finance market with extensive experience in delivering complex financing solutions, providing one stop shop financing for private equity firms, with a track record for deliverability and innovation.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of Espresso House (“the Company”) to Herkules Private Equity III, a Norwegian private equity fund. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In 2005, Palamon identified a gap in the Nordic markets for a quality, branded coffee bar offering and approached the founders of Espresso House about purchasing a majority interest and initiating a high-growth strategy. Beginning with 22 outlets in the south of Sweden in 2006, Espresso House purchased a 15 store chain in Stockholm to create a national brand with 37 outlets. From that base, the Company embarked on an organic expansion plan which has taken it to 120 outlets across Sweden, making it the largest chain of wholly-owned branded coffee bars in the Nordic region. Today, the Company employs approximately 900 staff and serves more than
30,000 customers daily. During Palamon’s ownership, revenues increased by 30% per annum to SEK 560 million with EBITDA rising more than 10 times.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon, commented, “We could not be happier with the success of Espresso House. From small beginnings, we have enjoyed partnering the Company’s superb management team in developing a growth strategy and executing to create a leading brand with the dominant position in its segment. For us, this investment has returned 3.4x on invested capital, once again demonstrating the power of our thesis-led investment approach. We wish the company well as it embarks on its next stage of growth.”

Adriano Capoferro, CEO of Espresso House, said, “Palamon’s support and strategic insights were significant at the early stages and then throughout the roll-out of our expansion plans. We have greatly appreciated our close collaboration with the Palamon team which has been an essential component in the Company’s success. Over the last year we have successfully opened 20 more outlets, continuing the steady increase of our presence in Sweden and laying the base for our exciting expansion plans into neighbouring Nordic countries.”

This is Palamon’s eighth realisation event from its 2006 fund, Palamon European Equity II, which has produced realised returns of 2.6x on invested capital on fully exited companies. Palamon invests in high growth businesses and has a strong track record from its inception of its portfolio companies achieving an average revenue growth of 20% per annum.

Espresso House

Espresso House is Sweden’s largest branded coffee shop chain, with 120 directly owned and operated units in prime locations across Sweden. Espresso House serves high quality speciality coffee, supplemented by a broad menu of warm and cold drinks, hot and cold food and bakery products. All baked goods and breads are prepared in its own bakery. The strong company culture delivers great customer experiences, and Espresso House’s loyalty card scheme has over 135,000 active users. Espresso House has about

900 employees, and estimated turnover for 2012 is over SEK 560 million.

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Sweden. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can be the lead private equity provider and where it can provide strategic direction and partner with management to help build equity value. The Firm manages Palamon European Equity, L.P. and Palamon European Equity II, L.P. with commitments of €1.1 billion.

Herkules is the leading Norwegian Private Equity firm, founded in 2003, with a total capital base of NOK 12.25 billion. Herkules targets companies located in the Nordic region, primarily in Norway. Herkules acquires established companies with strong growth potential, either through organic growth or add-on acquisitions. Herkules acquires majority share in companies and has positive experiences from partnership with existing shareholders.

For more information on Herkules Capital refer to www.herkulescapital.no

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has appointed Michael Beetz as an Associate Principal.

Mr Beetz, a German national, joins Palamon from Coller Capital where he was a Senior Associate in its London based investment team. Prior to this he was an Associate at UBS Investment Bank in its London office advising on buyouts, M&A and IPO transactions.
Mr Beetz graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Economics and Management and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Michael to the Firm. His appointment reflects Palamon’s continuing commitment to developing our investment capability and he will join the team as we continue to strengthen our presence both in Germany and across Europe.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Beetz said: “I was attracted by Palamon’s investment strategy of finding high growth, entrepreneur-led companies across Europe and its strong track record in creating market leaders. I look forward to the exciting opportunities in this space and being involved in building growth companies that deliver long term value to investors.”

Mr Beetz joins Palamon’s multi-national London-based team. The Firm, with €1.1 billion of equity under management, is currently investing its second pan-European fund, Palamon European Equity II, L.P.

Palamon’s investment strategy focuses on growth as the principle driver of value creation, with its portfolio of service sector businesses averaging 20% revenue growth since the Firm’s inception in 1999. Through strong proprietary deal origination the Firm identifies opportunities in sub-sectors of industry where prevailing macro-economic conditions will support high rates of growth. Recent such investments include QualitySolicitors, the UK’s leading consumer focused legal brand and EnGrande, a leading on-line booking agent to the budget accommodation sector.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has concluded a transaction with Royal Bank of Scotland (“RBS”), to provide a
£23 million financing package for its portfolio company, Cambridge Education Group (“CEG” or the “Company”) which includes a dividend recapitalisation for equity holders and additional debt financing for continued growth.

Cambridge Education Group is a leading UK provider of pre-University foundation programmes and English language training principally to foreign students keen to attend UK universities. Having identified the growing attractiveness of British education to international students Palamon acquired CEG in 2007 in partnership with a new management team led by Fergus Brownlee. Since that

time, CEG has tripled revenue organically to £55 million by expanding its teaching capacity whilst focusing on providing the highest standards of education. Overall the number of students taught on an annual basis has more than quadrupled from 460 at the time of investment to more than
2,000 today.

The strength and profitability of the business has allowed the Company to secure a financing package including capital expenditure financing, mortgage backed and revolving credit facilities which will support its future growth. The financing has also enabled the repayment of Palamon’s initial capital plus a return of over 50%. Palamon and the management team continue to own a significant majority shareholding in the Company.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented, “With Cambridge Education Group, we have supported a well positioned company to execute a remarkable growth strategy. The business is on a clear path to continue increasing profitability significantly over the coming years by further developing its teaching capacity and enlarging its footprint.”

Fergus Brownlee, CEO of CEG said, “With Palamon’s financial and strategic support we have been able to execute an organic growth strategy that has tripled the size of the business in five years. With the additional backing of RBS we now have in place the facilities and capital structure to underpin the next stage of our development. We are delighted to have secured this backing.”

Peter Talbot Managing Director, Financial Sponsors, Midlands at Royal Bank of Scotland commented, “RBS has worked extensively with Palamon and have a good understanding of their growth investing model. We are therefore delighted to provide support to Cambridge Education Group, a fast growing and highly successful UK business. Under the leadership of a very strong management team CEG has clear drivers for future growth, which RBS is committed to supporting into the future.”

This is the third dividend recapitalisation that the Firm has completed since 2009, a reflection of the strength of both Palamon’s portfolio performance and its relationships with supportive banks. As Palamon’s growth investment strategy typically utilises modest levels of initial leverage, recapitalisations have successfully been used to return capital once a business has achieved scale. In every case Palamon has maintained a stake in the on-going businesses as they enter a period of accelerated growth.

Cambridge Education Group:

Cambridge Education Group is one of the foremost providers of pre-university academic, arts and English language teaching in the UK. Founded in 1985, the Group teaches a mix of overseas and UK students a wide range of academic subjects at Foundation, GCSE, A Level and International Baccalaureate levels. It has three college campuses in Cambridge, Canterbury and London and has established on-campus Foundation Programmes at a selection of well-known UK Universities. At the Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts it teaches a variety of arts programmes and through Safford House Study Holidays it runs educational summer camps throughout the UK and in parts of the USA. Since Palamon’s investment the company has taken advantage of the significant expansion opportunities and during 2012, CEG taught more than 2000 full time equivalent students, a substantial increase from the 460 taught at the time of Palamon’s investment in 2007.

Royal Bank of Scotland

The RBS group is a large international banking and financial services company. From its headquarters in Edinburgh, the Group serves over 30 million customers in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. RBS is the leading provider of total debt solutions to the international leveraged finance market with extensive experience in delivering complex financing solutions, providing one stop shop financing for private equity firms, with a track record for deliverability and innovation.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has sold its majority shareholding in DS Produkte (“the Company”) in a management backed buy-out. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

DS Produkte is one of Germany’s largest distributors of innovative and fast moving consumer goods in the German non-food market. It primarily sells small electrical appliances, fitness products, shoes and home improvement products to most leading German blue-chip retailers, mail-order companies and over the internet. Palamon invested in the Company in November 2008 recognising the growth potential of the platform. Since then, the Company expanded its sales channels and during Palamon’s ownership, DS Produkte achieved annual top-line growth of almost 20%.

Palamon returned the majority of its initial investment to investors following a dividend recapitalisation of the business in December 2010 and the recently completed sale delivered a strong outcome to the fund.

Following the sale, the Company will continue to be led by the present management Ralf Dümmel, Hanno Hagemann and Andreas Schneider.

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented “We are pleased with our investment in DS Produkte, which has performed well and delivered a very good outcome for the fund. It has been a pleasure working with the management team at DS Produkte and we are certain that they will enjoy great success in the future.”

This exit marks Palamon’s thirteenth liquidity event since January 2009. These realisations have crystallised strong returns and totalled €713 million in cash proceeds; the equivalent of 74% of total capital invested. The Firm has a strong track record in investing in service sector businesses across Europe, generating strong returns through growth. Since inception in 1999 the Palamon portfolio has grown revenue on average by 20% per annum.

Palamon Capital Partners, one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has announced the appointment of Dr Hans-Joachim Körber to its Board of Advisors.

Dr Körber has had a long and highly distinguished business career including serving as the former President and CEO of METRO AG, one of the largest retailers in the world. He is currently on a number of international boards, including the Boards of Air Berlin PLC and Esprit Holdings Limited on which he is Chairman. In his early career Dr Körber held several senior management positions within the R.A. Oetker Group focusing on IT, logistics, communications and retail. He joined Metro SB Großmärkte in 1985 and worked for a number of different group companies in Germany and abroad. With the formation of METRO AG in 1996, Dr Körber joined its Management Board, serving as President and CEO from 1999 to 2007.

Dr Körber will join Palamon’s long established and experienced Board of Advisors, which provides counsel to the Firm and contributes its expertise and insights with respect to target investment markets and business sectors relevant to Palamon’s focus. Dr Körber first worked with Palamon on the board of Loyalty Partner, where Metro was a minority shareholder during Palamon’s ownership of the company between 2005 and 2011.

Michael Hoffman, Chairman of Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Dr Körber to Palamon’s Board of Advisors as he brings a wealth of management experience and insights into the German market where we are active investors. We very much look forward to working with him over the coming years.”

Commenting on his appointment, Dr Körber said: “I have known the team at Palamon for a number of years following our collaboration on the board of Loyalty Partner. The Firm’s investment strategy, which focuses on growth service sector companies across Europe, is of particular interest to me and I am therefore delighted to be invited to join the Firm’s Board of Advisors.”

The addition of Dr Körber to the Palamon Board of Advisors builds on another highly successful year for the Firm. During 2011, Palamon portfolio companies continued to perform extraordinarily well achieving 20% weighted average growth in revenue. Palamon continued executing on its strategy of investing in growth businesses across Europe concluding investments in OberScharrer, Germany’s leading ophthalmological group, EnGrande, a leading European on-line budget accommodation booking agent and QualitySolicitors, a UK network of high-street law firms. The Firm also generated realisation proceeds of €435 million during the year, at an overall return of 2.4x invested capital.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has acquired a majority stake in QualitySolicitors (“the Company”), a leading UK brand of high-street solicitors for individuals and SMEs. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

QualitySolicitors was founded in 2009 with the aim of building a national legal brand focused on providing improved standards of service to individual customers and SMEs. The UK high-street legal market, which represents £10 billion in annual revenue, is highly fragmented with approximately 10,000 firms, the vast majority of which have less than 25 solicitors. The Company has rapidly built a network of 300 locations across the UK, comprising law firms and also legal access points through a tie-in with leading UK high street chain, WHSmiths. Strong brand awareness has been generated with the public through a highly visible marketing campaign, including national television advertising. QualitySolicitors firms offer a transparent customer service charter with benefits such as free face to face consultations, fixed fees, same day response and a broad range of specialisms.

Palamon’s investment in QualitySolicitors follows the introduction of the Legal Services Act earlier this month, which lifts previous restrictions around the management, ownership and financing of firms providing legal services. The transaction, which is the first major private equity investment into the sector, will come from Palamon’s €670 million European Equity II fund, to enable the build out of central operations, sales functions and facilitate a ramp up of marketing activities. With the financial and strategic support of Palamon, QualitySolicitors aims to continue its rapid growth and firmly establish a position as the ‘household name’ brand for legal services.

Following the transaction the Company will continue to be led by founder, Craig Holt. Retail expert Steve Richards, the former Chief Executive of Interflora, has been appointed to the board as Chairman.

Craig Holt, co-founder and Chief Executive of QualitySolictors commented, “We are delighted to partner with such an experienced growth investor as Palamon. Their understanding of the legal services market and analysis of our business model convinced us that they could provide the strongest strategic support to help us achieve our ambitious growth plans”.

Jonathan Heathcote, Partner at Palamon said, “Palamon have researched opportunities in the legal market extensively over the past couple of years in anticipation of the Legal Services Act. It was clear to us that QualitySolicitors represents an unparalleled opportunity to gain market share in this newly deregulated industry. We hope, in time, to see QualitySolicitors firms become the largest provider of local legal services.”

Owen Wilson, Associate Principal at Palamon Capital Partners commented: “We are excited about partnering with Craig and Saleem through our investment in QualitySolicitors. The Company has significant first-mover advantage for consolidating the high-street legal services market. We share their vision for the future of the business and look forward to supporting them as they continue to rapidly scale their operations.”

Other Palamon investments in the UK include Cambridge Education Group, the leading provider of pre-university education and Towry, the largest independently owned group of financial advisers with £4.8 billion assets under management.

QualitySolicitors

QualitySolicitors is a rapidly growing network of UK high-street law firms which was established in 2009 to address the need for a nationally recognised and trusted brand for local legal services. The Company offers a broad range of services to individuals and SMEs, based on a transparent customer service charter, including free first consultation and fixed fees with no hidden costs. QualitySolicitors currently has approximately 300 locations situated across the UK comprising high quality law firms and legal access points with leading UK high street chain, WHSmiths.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) is delighted to announce that it has won the unquote” DACH Buyout Exit of 2011 Award for its investment in dress-for-less (the “Company”). The Award follows a series of industry award nominations recognising the accomplishments of the Firm, resulting from its growth investment model that consistently provides robust returns irrespective of market cycles.

The Firm invested in dress-for-less, now one of Europe’s largest on-line designer fashion retailers, in 2007 having recognised the strong trends driving growth in the value segment of on-line retail and backed the founder-led management team to execute an aggressive expansion strategy which included significant expansion across Europe. During Palamon’s ownership, staff numbers at the Company more than doubled and sales almost tripled yielding compound annual growth rates of more than 35% in revenue and profitability. In March 2011 the Firm sold dress-for-less to trade buyer, Privalia Venta Directa, generating a 3.0x return on invested capital and an IRR of 41%.

Palamon invests in businesses led by strong entrepreneurs that are capable, with the support
of Palamon’s strong financial and strategic support, to access high rates of growth and build market leading companies of significant strategic value. Palamon generates investment returns by creating value in its portfolio companies through exceptional revenue growth, as highlighted with investment in dress-for-less. The Firm’s portfolio companies consistently demonstrate strong trading performance, with the portfolio as a whole reporting revenue growth of more than 20% per annum since the Firm’s inception in 1999. The strength of the portfolio has allowed the Firm to operate seamlessly through the recent downturn. The sale of dress-for-less is one of a series of strong exits and during 2011 the Firm has announced four exits of its portfolio companies amounting to €433 million in proceeds and which achieved an average return of 2.4x on invested capital.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon commented: “We are very proud to have won the unquote” DACH Buyout Exit of 2011 Award. Palamon’s success is based upon our ability to identify growth opportunities and build businesses of substantial strategic value. In partnership with the great management team, led by Mirco Schultis, founder, and Holger Hengstler, we succeeded in creating a highly attractive asset.”

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented: “The Palamon investment strategy provides access to exceptional organic growth in Europe through our portfolio of carefully selected niche companies that demonstrate that entrepreneurship is very much alive across the region. We are delighted to have realised another strong result for our investors as we continue to focus on executing our growth investment model and building further value in our portfolio.”

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has appointed Julian Carreras as a Principal. Palamon’s pan-European team, which comprises professionals from eight different countries, targets service businesses across Europe with the potential to access significant top-line growth.

This appointment marks the return to Palamon by Mr Carreras, a Spanish national, who was a member of the Firm between 2003 and 2006. Mr Carreras initially joined Palamon from Goldman Sachs and prior to that worked for McKinsey & Co. Between 2006 and 2011, he held positions with Cinven in London and Thesan Capital in his home town of Madrid.

Mr Carreras obtained MSc degrees from Polytechnic University of Milan, École Centrale Paris and Polytechnic University of Madrid. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he attended as a Fulbright Scholar.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Julian back to the Firm. His return is an endorsement of the strength of Palamon’s growth investing proposition as well as the breadth of our reach. With his extensive experience, Julian adds further depth to our investment capability across Europe in general and in Spain in particular, a country in which we have been an active investor and in which we continue to have very strong interest.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Carreras said: “I am thrilled to be back at Palamon. I believe Palamon’s pan-European growth focused investment proposition to be unique and felt drawn back to the Firm. I am very much looking forward to working with the team once again.”

Palamon generates returns through driving revenue and EBITDA growth in its portfolio of carefully selected niche companies. The Firm targets service sector companies across Europe with the potential to deliver double-digit top-line growth. Over the past five years the Palamon portfolio has achieved revenue growth of more than 20% per annum and EBITDA growth of 40% per annum. Its current portfolio includes Spanish business Grupo SAR, which recently completed the acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae to become SAR Quavitae, the largest provider of elderly care in Spain with annual revenue of €300 million.

The Firm recently also recently acquired Barcelona-based EnGrande, a leading European on- line booking website focused on low cost accommodation. Palamon, with €1.1 billion of equity under management, is currently investing its second Pan-European fund, Palamon European Equity II, L.P.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, announces that it has entered into a binding agreement to sell portfolio company SAV Credit (“SAV” or “the Company”) to Värde Partners in a transaction valued at £472 million. The transaction is subject to competition clearance.

Palamon has supported the development of SAV from its founding by entrepreneur Richard Langstaff in 2002 to being the UK’s leading non-standard credit card provider managing approximately 500,000 credit card accounts with more than £600 million in credit card assets. Palamon partnered in this deal with co-investors Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners and Electra Private Equity who provided additional equity support over several funding rounds.

Since its start-up, SAV established proprietary methods in credit underwriting, yield management and collections, which, in anticipation of the credit crisis, allowed it to pivot successfully from organic growth to acquiring portfolios from other lenders. In October 2007 SAV acquired the Marbles credit card business from HSBC Bank plc and in March 2010 it completed a transaction involving the purchase of the Citi-branded credit card portfolio in the UK from CitiFinancial Europe, with Värde being brought in as a financing partner.

As a result of strict underwriting and credit management discipline, SAV thrived throughout the financial crisis, experiencing virtually no deterioration in its charge-offs while seeing profits grow rapidly as a result of its increased scale. The Company is now in a strong position to consolidate the UK market for non-standard cards through both organic growth and portfolio acquisitions. Chief Executive Officer James Corcoran and Chairman Sir Malcolm Williamson will continue to lead the business.

Daan Knottenbelt, Partner at Palamon said, “We are delighted to conclude the sale of SAV Credit, which during our ownership has successfully been transformed from a start-up company to being the UK’s leading player in the non-standard credit card segment. This transaction will deliver a double digit rate of return over a nine year period for the Palamon funds. This is a tribute to the strength of the business model and its management team led by James Corcoran.

James Corcoran, Chief Executive Officer of SAV said, "Palamon has been a great partner for SAV having invested in it from its start-up. With their strategic and analytical understanding of the consumer credit market, Palamon has been instrumental in building the company into a leading credit card issuer. We are very excited about continuing to build this strong platform with the support of Värde."

This is Palamon’s ninth realisation event since May 2010 generating in total €640 million of investment proceeds. Recent exits include the sale of German gift certificates provider cadooz to Euronet Worldwide earlier this month, on-line retailer dress-for-less to Privalia in March 2011, and marketing services provider Loyalty Partner to American Express in December 2010. The Firm has a strong track record in investing in niche service sector businesses across Europe with value creation in its portfolio companies arising primarily through revenue and profit growth. In 2010 the Palamon portfolio companies as a whole achieved EBITDA growth of over 35%.

Palamon Capital Partners

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Sweden. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can be the lead private equity provider and where it can provide strategic direction and partner with management to help build equity value. The Firm manages Palamon European Equity, L.P. and Palamon European Equity II, L.P. capitalised at €1.1 billion, making up one of the largest pools of private equity capital dedicated to growth investment opportunities in Europe’s mid market.

SAV Credit, established in 2001, pioneered specialist credit card lending in the UK, catering for consumers often overlooked by mainstream financial service providers. Based in Kent, the group employs around
60 staff supported by another 400 people at servicing partners including Lloyds Banking Group, First Data and Agylisis. SAV acquired the Marbles credit card business from HSBC Bank plc in October 2007 and the Citi-branded credit card portfolio in the UK from CitiFinancial Europe in March 2010, since rebranded Opus. Together with its own Aqua credit cards, SAV now has approximately 500,000 customers under management with balances in excess of £600 million.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of cadooz AG (“cadooz” or “the Company”) to Nasdaq-listed strategic buyer, Euronet Worldwide (“Euronet”), a leading global electronic payments provider and distributor, headquartered in Leawood, Kansas, USA. The details of the transaction were not disclosed.

cadooz, headquartered in Hamburg, is Germany’s largest full-service provider of vouchers, innovative merchandise and incentive solutions, generating annual revenue in 2011 of €80 million. The Company serves more than 3,000 corporate customers across a range of industries in Germany, Austria and Poland, offering a broad range of multi-choice gift certificates and cards that can be redeemed at more than

250 leading retailers at high street locations, on-line stores or using mobile phone applications. Palamon invested in cadooz in 2006, having recognised the trend that innovative voucher and gift card solutions were replacing traditional merchandise, cash and travel incentives as they stimulate sales and increase loyalty.

During Palamon’s ownership, cadooz achieved compound annual growth of its revenue of more than 50% through significant expansion into new customer segments, launching new product lines and broadening its geographic reach. This was achieved both through organic and acquisitive growth. In parallel, efficient operating procedures were developed and processes were automated through the implementation of advanced IT solutions.

Following the transaction, CEO Florian Welsch and his management team will continue to lead cadooz.

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, said: “During our partnership with CEO, Florian Welsch, and the management team, cadooz has been transformed by successfully broadening its product offerings, customer relationships and geographic reach and this has delivered significantly higher sales volumes and profitability. The success of cadooz underlines Palamon’s ability to identify growth market segments and build market leaders that are highly attractive to global strategic players. The sale generates a 2.5x return on invested equity and 20% IRR.”

Florian Welsch, CEO of cadooz, said: “Palamon has been a highly active partner and has been instrumental in developing the business strategy which led cadooz through a rapid and sustainable growth phase enabling it to achieve its market-leading position in Germany. Today, we are proud to serve such a high number of blue chip corporate customers and will continue to build our reputation as their innovative and reliable provider of a full range of vouchers and incentive solutions. Together with Euronet we now look very much forward to further expanding our product offerings in Germany and further into Europe.”

This is Palamon’s sixth full realisation in the past 15 months. Recent exits include the sale of marketing services provider Loyalty Partner to American Express in December 2010 and of internet retailer dress-for-less to Privalia in March 2011. Both transactions achieved strong returns of 3x on invested capital. The Firm has a strong track record in investing in niche service sector businesses across Europe with value creation in its portfolio companies arising primarily through revenue and profit growth. In 2010 the Palamon portfolio companies as a whole achieved EBITDA growth of over 35%.

About cadooz

cadooz is Germany’s leading full-service provider of multi-choice gift certificates and cards for corporate incentive programmes and has recently also expanded into Austria and Poland. The Company’s BestChoice product is used by corporate customers in multiple industries for customer acquisition, reseller rewards programmes, member referral schemes or staff incentive schemes. During 2011, the Company will provide approximately 1.2 million certificates to around 3,000 corporate customers.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has acquired a majority stake in EnGrande (“EnGrande” or “the Company”), a leading European on-line booking business focused on the budget accommodation sector. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, however, Palamon will hold a majority stake in the business.

EnGrande was established in 2003 by founder and CEO John Erceg to generate bookings for budget hotels and apartments in Barcelona. Following a successful period of rapid expansion across Europe and selected cities in North America and Asia-Pacific, the Company now has more than 7,000 establishments subscribed to its service worldwide and processes more than

€80 million of bookings per annum. Engrande’s websites, which include www.budgetplaces.com, and a network of dedicated 30’s city websites, such as www.london30.com and www.amsterdam30.com, are aimed at cost conscious leisure and business travellers who are typically based in Europe. The Company employs 85 staff and is headquartered in Barcelona with offices in New York City and Dublin.

Palamon’s investment in EnGrande is based on the strong growth dynamics of the on-line travel agent market. The European hotel sector generates sales of €85 billion per annum of which on- line bookings currently account for around €14 billion but are growing at more than 14% per annum. The European budget accommodation sector itself is currently worth approximately

€15 billion per annum and is rapidly growing due in part to the expansion of low cost carriers. The fragmented nature of accommodation suppliers and their low penetration on-line presents EnGrande with a strong opportunity to accelerate the growth of its network of providers and become the leading player in the budget market.

Commenting on the transaction, Founder and CEO of EnGrande John Erceg said: “We are delighted to partner with such an experienced growth investor as Palamon. Their understanding of the on-line retail space and analysis of our business convinced us that they could provide the strongest strategic support to help us achieve our ambitious growth plans. A key part of the growth plan is a shared commitment to delivering the best choice of cheap, central, clean and safe accommodation to our customers. EnGrande is passionate about helping its online customers save money on their travel accommodation and helping hoteliers fill their rooms profitably.”

Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners commented: “We are excited about partnering with John and his management team through our investment in EnGrande. The conclusion of this transaction is the culmination of an extensive amount of research into the on- line travel agent sector. The internet has yet to transform the budget accommodation sector in Europe as the low cost supplier base is still highly fragmented and many owner operated establishments have yet to embrace the on-line world.”

Jaime-Enrique Hugas, Principal at Palamon Capital Partners commented: “EnGrande is a strong platform from which to build a niche market leader. The Company addresses a fundamental market need by offering today’s cost conscious consumer its network of over 7,000 cheap, central and clean establishments in Europe and in selected cities globally. EnGrande’s has a truly differentiated offering in the budget accommodation market. We look forward to working with John and his team.”

Palamon has a strong track record in partnering founder-led businesses and providing strategic and financial support through periods of accelerated growth. In 2007 the Firm invested in European on-line fashion retailer, Dress-for-less, and during its ownership grew revenue and profitability by more than 35% per year. The business was sold in March 2011 to Privalia, headquartered in Barcelona. In December 2010 Palamon sold its majority stake in Loyalty Partner, Europe’s largest loyalty programme, to American Express in a transaction valued at more than €500 million. The founder-led company, which was acquired by the Firm in 2005 more than doubled revenue and profitability during Palamon’s ownership.

EnGrande

EnGrande was established in 2003 by founder John Erceg and today has become one of Europe’s leading online budget accommodation booking businesses through its flagship website www.budgetplaces.com and its network of affiliate 30’s sites (e.g. www.london30.com, www.rome30.com, www.barcelona30.com, www.amsterdam30.com). EnGrande’s sites take over €80 million in on-line budget accommodation bookings per year for its fast growing accommodation network of about 7,000 establishments in Europe and in selected cities of North America and Asia-Pacific.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has invested in the German medical services business OberScharrer Group (“OberScharrer” or the “Group”). Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Fürth, Germany, the OberScharrer Group was founded in 1982 by
Dr ManuelOber and Dr Armin Scharrer, and operates seventeen sites across Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. The Group offers a broad spectrum of specialised ophthalmic treatments providing high quality medical care to public and private patients.

OberScharrer has sought a partnership with Palamon to ensure its ability to finance its continued growth, whilst maintaining its independent status. The Founders, who will remain with the business, will continue to lead the Group’s development in-line with its strategy to date. Palamon has made the investment in view of strong demand for outpatient services in Germany due to an ageing population and the ability of specialised outpatient centres to provide treatments more effectively and cost efficiently than hospitals.

Dr Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented, “We are delighted to support OberScharrer with its leading reputation for delivering the highest levels of clinical excellence to its patients. Under the continued leadership of the two founders and Managing Directors, Dr Ober and
Dr Scharrer, the Group plans to further build out the existing locations and grow organically in the local region.”

Dr Armin Scharrer, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the OberScharrer Group commented, “It was very important for us to have found the right partner for the next stage in the development of OberScharrer whilst retaining our independent status.” Dr Manuel Ober, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Group, explained: “With Palamon, we have a partner that shares our vision for regional growth and dedication for the excellent patient service we provide.”

This transaction marks Palamon’s fifteenth investment from the Firm’s second fund, Palamon European Equity, II. Palamon’s investment strategy focuses on supporting entrepreneurs and founders across Europe to build their businesses through strategic support and enabling them to access equity financing.

About OberScharrer

The OberScharrer Group was established in 1982 by two physicians Dr Ober and Dr Scharrer. The Group is regionally focused on Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg and provides its patients with a broad range of ophthalmological treatments, including ocular surgery, in seventeen outpatient clinics.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of dress-for-less (“the Company” or “dfl”) to strategic buyer, Privalia Venta Directa, a leading online sales club for fashion brands headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

dress-for-less is one of Europe’s largest on-line designer fashion retailers, headquartered in Kelsterbach near Frankfurt. Palamon acquired the Company in 2007, having recognised the strong trends driving growth in the value segment of on-line retail. dress-for-less sells end-of- season designer clothing on-line through an efficient delivery and return system, providing convenience and value to consumers. Following Palamon’s investment, the Company embarked on a substantial growth strategy which was underpinned by the development of a new state-of-the- art logistics facility and IT infrastructure.

During Palamon’s ownership, the Company achieved compound annual growth rates of more than 35% in revenue and profitability through significant expansion across Europe, entering the full- price fashion segment and the acquisition of a specialised online retailer, Kolibri. Today, dress- for-less offers a range of over 13,000 items of end-of-season clothing and footwear from

450 designer labels to consumers in over 50 countries. It carries leading brand name designer lines.

The Company’s Joint Managing Directors, Mirco Schultis and Holger Hengstler, will continue to lead the business and take on executive positions in Privalia.

Dan Mytnik, Partner at Palamon, said: “This has been a tremendously successful investment for Palamon. During our partnership with management, dress-for-less has nearly tripled turnover and profitability. The Company operates in a rapidly growing market, driven by consumers wanting easy access to high quality designer brands at affordable prices. We expect the Company to continue to be highly successful as part of a leading global on-line retail group.”

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented: “The success of dress-for-less underscores Palamon’s ability to identify and build in partnership with management fast-growing European companies which are highly attractive to strategic market players. This realisation, which generated a 40% IRR, adds to Palamon’s strong pan-European investment track record and is a testament to the power of our growth investment model.”

Mirco Schultis, Founder and Managing Director of dress-for-less, said: “Palamon has been the perfect partner during this stage in our development. Its support and strategic vision have been instrumental to our success. We now look forward to further expanding our business, together with Privalia, into Europe and globally.”

This is Palamon’s seventh realisation in the past year, the most recent being the €500 million sale of Loyalty Partner to American Express in December 2010, which generated a 3x return on Palamon’s invested capital. The Firm has a strong track record in investing in niche service sector businesses across Europe, generating strong returns through growth. In 2010 the Palamon portfolio companies as a whole achieved EBITDA growth of over 35%.

About dress-for-less

dress-for-less is one of Germany’s leading on-line retailers. It was founded in 1999 and sells end-of-season apparel for men, women and children from over 450 designer labels to consumers in over 50 countries. The company also owns full price designer fashion outlet Kolibri.

- Carlyle and Palamon will grow the business through significant investment, diversification of services and acquisitions -

London – 28th January 2011 – Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (Carlyle) announced today that it has signed a binding agreement to acquire Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH), from Bank of America Merrill Lynch Capital Partners (BAMLCP), and simultaneously merge it with Associated Dental Practices (ADP) in partnership with private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon). Carlyle will hold a majority of the newly combined entity and Palamon will share joint governance. BAMLCP is fully exiting its stake in IDH. The proposed merger of IDH and ADP is subject to relevant regulatory approval. Financial details were not disclosed.

IDH and ADP are two leading providers of dental care in the UK, primarily focused on NHS dentistry, with close to 450 practices treating more than 3.5 million patients per year. Carlyle and Palamon will invest in the business to expand the number of practices, enhance the quality of patient care and grow NHS, private and specialist dental services. Furthermore, this investment will facilitate the company’s diversification into other primary care services and cosmetic treatments.

“Carlyle and Palamon have recognized that IDH and ADP are high-quality businesses with significant growth potential. This investment will allow us to provide more services across more practices with better quality of patient care in dentistry and potentially other primary healthcare fields too.” said Richard Smith, CEO of IDH, who will lead the combined entity. “Furthermore, the merger with ADP is a particularly exciting and progressive step for both organizations in terms of career opportunities and development for the management, dentists and support staff.” Mr Smith has extensive experience in the healthcare industry, and was formerly the Managing Director of Lloyds Pharmacy, where he led the development of the largest community pharmacy chain in the UK.

“Carlyle and Palamon’s combined financial strength, extensive network, and track record in the management of healthcare companies are great assets to IDH and ADP” said David Hillier, CEO of ADP. “We are delighted that our partnership with Palamon will continue and look forward to working with Carlyle.”

Eric Kump, Managing Director of Carlyle Europe Partners, commented, “IDH and ADP are UK market leaders in NHS dentistry and a merger between the businesses creates a wealth of opportunities for the new entity. We are delighted to have facilitated this unique transaction as we see long term growth potential in the dental services sector. We are looking forward to working with the NHS to enhance patient access and value for services as well as provide the highest standards of care. Furthermore, we believe the business has the capability to extend into other local primary care areas consistent with the government’s stated objectives.”

Jonathan Heathcote, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners, said “We are delighted with our involvement in this significant transaction. It builds on our investment thesis focused on opportunities in the European healthcare services sector. We look forward to partnering with Carlyle in helping this combined business reach its full potential.”

Matthew Turner, Managing Director of BAMLCP, said “We are exceptionally proud of our achievements with IDH and delighted to have found strong new partners for the business who we believe have the capability to further build on IDH’s track record. We wish Carlyle and Palamon every success with their plans to merge the business with ADP and take the business to the next level.”

New equity for this transaction comes from Carlyle Europe Partners III (CEP III), a €5.4 billion buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in Europe. The fund made five investments in 2010 – a portfolio of Primondo Specialty Group’s retail businesses, B&B Hotel Group (hotel chain), Giannoni (manufacturer of stainless steel heat exchangers), NBTY (manufacturer of vitamins and nutritional supplements and parent company of Holland and Barratt) and Commscope (infrastructure solution provider for communications networks).

Palamon Capital Partners had invested in ADP through its second fund, Palamon European Equity II, a mid-market pan-European fund focused on growth services businesses. In 2010 Palamon’s portfolio company profits grew by an average of 38%, whilst at the same time the Firm concluded six realisations generating almost €450 million of proceeds.

IDH is one of the UK's leading Dental Groups, with 2 million patients and a network of over 315 practices nationwide. IDH believes that our growing 'Group' philosophy is the way forward in Dental Care; sharing standards, clinical excellence, increased employee opportunities and better training. Ultimately, it is the goal to become number one, leading the way in patient care and choice, encouraging practices to come on-board, sharing the benefits of such a unique network can offer and to offer PCTs across the Country, partnerships built on outstanding delivery and standards. For more information on IDH refer to www.idhgroup.co.uk

About Associated Dental Practices

ADP is one of the largest UK dental chains and a major provider of NHS dentistry in the UK with approximately 125 practices serving 1.5 million patients. ADP is committed to NHS dentistry and to expanding its services through working closely with Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts across the UK to create new NHS dental practices and additional dental access for NHS patients. For more information on ADP refer to www.adp-dental.com

About BAML Capital Partners

BAML Capital Partners (BAMLCP) is the private equity investment arm of Bank of America. BAMLCP, formerly known as Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity (MLGPE), has invested nearly $5 billion of equity capital in more than 26 portfolio companies since 2002. BAMLCP targets investments in high-quality, market-leading companies in partnership with company management. Investments range across a variety of sectors and are typically based in North America and Europe. BAMLCP is a control-oriented equity investor. The firm makes equity investments in the form of leveraged buyouts, growth equity, and equity- linked junior capital, typically investing $50 million to $200+ million per transaction, while historical investments have ranged both above and below these levels. BAMLCP has offices in New York and London. For more information on BAMLCP refer to www.baml.com/bamlcp

Palamon Capital Partners, one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has elected Daniel Mytnik to the Partnership.

Mr Mytnik, a Swedish national, joined Palamon as Principal in 2006 from Altium where he was a Managing Director and prior to that he was with Morgan Stanley Private Equity in London. His election to Partner recognises his considerable contribution to the Firm’s pan- European investment capabilities. Mr Mytnik, who was University of Oxford educated, recently led Palamon’s investment in Eneas Energy and also sits on the boards of Cambridge Education Group in the UK, Dress-for-less in Germany and Espresso House in Sweden.

The London-based Firm, which has a multicultural team of 17 investment professionals representing 10 nationalities, now has eight partners. Palamon had another good year in 2010; the weighted average EBITDA growth for its portfolio as a whole exceeded 35%, deal- flow and investment activity was strong and the Firm concluded six realisations generating €450 million in proceeds. The team is currently investing the Firm’s second fund, Palamon European Equity II, with €670 million of commitments.

Louis Elson, Managing Partner of Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “Palamon’s continued performance is a testament to the strength of the team and the power of the Firm’s institutional approach to investing. We are delighted to welcome Daniel to the Partnership, whose election draws from the deep team of talented and dedicated professionals within Palamon.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Mytnik said: “I am delighted to have been elected to the Palamon Partnership. I joined the Firm on the strength of its investment proposition and its pan-European reach, which has delivered consistent and strong performance through significant market cycles. I am delighted to be given the opportunity to build on that proposition and to contribute to the further success of the Firm”.

Palamon’s investments, which span over seven countries in Europe, include a diverse range of businesses including: Towry, the UK’s largest independently owned independent financial advisor; Grupo SAR, the leading provider of care for the elderly in Spain; and Munich-based Loyalty Partner, Europe’s largest loyalty programme manager, which the Firm recently agreed to sell to American Express.

Palamon Capital Partners

Palamon Capital Partners, LP is an independent private equity Partnership founded in 1999, which is focused on providing equity for European growth services companies. Palamon, as a pan-European investor, originates, executes and manages investments in the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, France, and Germany. The Firm targets investments in companies where it can be the lead private equity provider and where the Partnership’s experienced principals can provide strategic direction and support to help build equity value.

The Firm manages Palamon European Equity, L.P. and Palamon European Equity II, L.P., capitalised at €1.1 billion, and making up one of the largest pools of private equity capital dedicated to growth investment opportunities in Europe’s mid market arena. Investors in Palamon funds are based mainly in the US and Europe and are among the most significant investment institutions in the world.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, has agreed the sale of its 54% stake in Loyalty Partner (“the Company”) to American Express. The sale price of the Palamon shares amounted to €240 million, representing an enterprise value of approximately €500 million for the Company. The transaction is subject to approval by the German Federal Cartel Office.

Loyalty Partner operates Germany’s PAYBACK loyalty card and has a market leading position in Europe with 34 million cards issued and a strong network of retail chains and on-line shops. In Germany, PAYBACK is the consumer's third most carried card.

Since leading the buyout of the Company from Lufthansa in November 2005, Palamon has worked with Loyalty Partner to deliver a growth programme through a number of strategic initiatives that have more than doubled revenue and profitability. Through these initiatives, the Company extended its loyalty card operations into Poland and India, developed a financial services proposition through offering of combined payment and loyalty cards to consumers and launched an on-line and mobile coupon offering in Germany. Furthermore, the Company created a data analytics division which provides retailers across Europe and the United States with greater customer behaviour insight.

Holger Kleingarn, Partner at Palamon, commented, “We are delighted with this sale, which has tripled our invested equity and generated a 25% IRR. This result reflects the strength of the business arising from the successful implementation of growth initiatives identified at the time of our investment. The achievements are a tribute to the capabilities and commitment of Alexander Rittweger and his team.”

Alexander Rittweger, founder and CEO of Loyalty Partner, commented, “We have been able to achieve a step-change in the Loyalty Partner business during our five year partnership with Palamon. We greatly valued Palamon's contributions and their ability to work closely with us to develop our growth strategy and substantially expand our business.”

Louis Elson, Managing Partner at Palamon, said, “We are very pleased with this outstanding result achieved on our investment in Loyalty Partner. It is our sixth realisation over the past year; in total the six realisations have generated almost €500 million proceeds at a strong overall multiple of
2.5 times on our invested equity. These realisations have demonstrated the enormous value inherent in Palamon's growth equity model which has enabled our portfolio of companies across Europe to flourish in spite of the economic storms.”

At the same time as achieving strong exits, Palamon also has maintained its strong pace of investment by recently acquiring a majority stake in Oslo-based energy services group Eneas as well as concluding a transformational acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae for portfolio company Grupo SAR, now Spain's largest residential and homecare provider.

About Loyalty Partner

Launched in 1998, Loyalty Partner offers expertise in all aspects of customer management, with 34 million cardholders and hundreds of partner companies across Germany, Poland and India. The company operates three subsidiaries including: PAYBACK, one of the leading multi-partner loyalty programs in Germany, designed to deliver value to consumers and generate additional revenue for partner companies; EMNOS, a specialist in-sight-based marketing consultancy for the retail sector; and Loyalty Partner Solutions, an information technology service provider that develops customised loyalty programmes for companies.

Grupo SAR, a leading Spanish provider of care to the elderly backed by European Private Equity firms Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”) and G Square, has announced the acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae, the third largest operator in the Spanish residential care market, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

The combined business will have over 80 residential units and 10,500 places generating
€300 million of revenue, making it the largest operator in the Spanish market. Grupo SAR will continue to focus on delivering high quality services for the most complex elderly care needs whilst the acquisition will broaden its footprint to cover 16 of Spain’s 17 Regions. The transaction also provides Grupo SAR with an entry point to the tele-assistance business, which offers opportunities for further growth and service sophistication.

Palamon and G Square jointly invested in Grupo SAR in May 2009 to reinforce the company to meet the growing demand for elderly care services in Spain driven by strong underlying socio- economic trends. Grupo SAR’s market leading commitment to quality of care made it the ideal platform with which to consolidate the fragmented Spanish market. All of Grupo SAR’s investors, including founding shareholder Confide and management, participated in the funding.

The combined business employs more than 12,000 staff and plans to expand its workforce as it continues to identify organic and acquisition growth opportunities under the leadership of the Chairman, founder of Confide, Higinio Raventos, and the CEO, Jorge Guarner.

Jaime-Enrique Hugas, a principal at Palamon Capital Partners said, "The Spanish elderly care market continues to grow due to strong macro trends, despite the challenging economic environment. The combined business will continue to offer the highest quality of residential and home care to dependent people from both the public and private sectors. This is a significant transaction in the industry and demonstrates Grupo SAR’s ongoing commitment to the sector.”

Laurent Ganem, President of G Square said, “The acquisition of Mapfre Quavitae is a quantum leap for Grupo SAR, which becomes by far the Spanish market leader in elderly care and home care. We are very enthusiastic about the prospects of the Company and are totally supportive of the management team in its expansion strategy and its commitment to

Grupo SAR

Grupo SAR was established in 1992 and today has become Spain’s largest provider of health and social care services to the elderly, employing more than 12,000 people, serving 10,516 places and 30,000 home care and 26,500 tele-assistance users a year. In addition to operating a substantial homecare division the Company has over 80 residential facilities. In 2010, Grupo SAR is forecast to generate revenue of €300 million.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid-market private equity firms, has acquired a majority stake in Eneas Energy AS (“Eneas” or “the Company”) in a transaction valued at NOK 375 million.

Eneas is the leading supplier of corporate energy services in the Nordic region, generating revenue approaching NOK 700 million during 2010. It provides a range of services aimed at reducing energy costs for the SME sector as well as large corporate and public authorities. The Company employs 350 staff in its operations based in Norway, Sweden and Germany and serves approximately 10,000 customers. Eneas has achieved a 60% compound annual growth rate since 2000. The Company is now targeting further growth by broadening its reach both through developing a wider product range and expanding geographically, which will be facilitated through the strategic support of Palamon.

The business was co-founded in 1995 by CEO, Thomas Hakavik, and sold to Statoil in 2001. In 2005, Mr Hakavik led a group of private investors to buy the company back from Statoil. In the current transaction, Palamon will replace the private investors and the Company’s existing debt facilities will be rolled over. Mr Hakavik and his team will continue to lead the Company through its next phase of growth and remain significant shareholders.

Commenting on the transaction, Erik Ferm, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners, said: “Eneas has shown phenomenal growth over the last ten years and is now established as a leading player in Scandinavia. We have considerable experience in helping companies to grow internationally and in Eneas we see a company with the right credentials to achieve this.”

Dan Mytnik, Principal at Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering a company with such a strong management team and a business with clear potential for growth. We look forward to working with Thomas and his team to take the business to the next level.“

Thomas Hakavik, CEO and founder of Eneas said: “We continue to see exciting opportunities and therefore it was important to us to partner with a firm that could share our vision of expansion and has the capital to back further expansion. We look forward to our partnership with Palamon, which is an experienced pan-European player, and we are confident that it is the perfect partner for this next stage in our development.”

This transaction marks the fourteenth investment of the Firm’s second fund, Palamon European Equity, II, which now has over 67% of its €670 million invested. Palamon is an experienced investor in the Nordic region and owns Espresso House, the largest branded coffee chain in Sweden and recently successfully exited its investment in Nordax Finans, a Nordic consumer finance business.

Eneas Energy AS

Eneas Energy AS was founded in 1995 and has rapidly grown to become one of Scandinavia's leading players within the segments of energy efficiency and other energy services. Eneas optimizes energy costs through expertise and well proven concepts and achieves measurable results. Eneas serves approximately 10,000 customers in industry, commercial and government segments. Eneas
350 employees are located in offices in Lier, Trondheim, Strängnäs, Malmo, Östersund and Berlin.

Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon”), one of Europe’s leading mid market private equity firms, is pleased to announce the sale of OmniBus Systems Ltd (“OmniBus”) to Miranda Technologies Inc. (“Miranda”), a Toronto Stock Exchange listed company for an all-cash consideration of €36.4 million.

OmniBus is a world leading developer of software systems for television broadcasters and video content distributors over mobile and internet platforms. Its flagship product, iTX, is a revolutionary software solution that enables broadcasters to manage the transmission of live television content in high definition using standard IT hardware and software products rather than the bespoke, complex, and predominantly hardware-based systems found in legacy installations. The company has a blue chip customer base, including many of the largest television broadcasters and networks in the world.

Palamon acquired OmniBus from the administrators of its former German listed parent and set about transforming its business model by shifting it from a bespoke software and hardware business with low margins, to a highly scalable software business with significantly higher margins and reduced installation and maintenance complexity.

Despite the recent deep recession that has particularly impacted capital expenditure in the broadcasting industry, OmniBus reported continued strong growth in profitability throughout 2008, 2009 and 2010. Its profitability and future growth prospects made it a compelling acquisition target for trade buyers and following several approaches in recent months Palamon concluded the sale to Miranda, a global manufacturer of high performance hardware and software for the television broadcast industry.

Daan Knottenbelt, a Partner at Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “We are delighted with the sale of OmniBus to Miranda, which has enabled us to harvest a profit on this investment for our investors at a time when the broadcast sector is coming out of a downturn caused by the recent global recession. This was achieved by Palamon driving a strategic change in Omnibus’ economic model towards a highly scalable and profitable software business, a strategy that was superbly executed by CEO Mike Oldham and his team.”

Mike Oldham, CEO of OmniBus commented: “It has been a pleasure working with Palamon over the years. Their support and strategic input as growth investors has been a pivotal factor in our company’s success. Together we have created an exciting and successful business.”

The sale adds to a sequence of successful exits by Palamon during 2010, including full exits of Nordic consumer credit company, Nordax Finans AB, and theme park operator, Moviepark Germany, and partial exits from payments specialist, Retail Decisions, and independent wealth advisor, Towry. With the OmniBus exit, Palamon has now realised over €200 million in 2010 from its portfolio companies. These exits also follow a number of new investments made by Palamon in the last twelve months.

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Our money is different...

Our investment model is one of patience, dedication and partnership, underpinned by a conviction that we share with the managers we back.
Palamon is supported by major institutions – public and private pension funds, insurance companies, family offices and endowments – with very long investment horizons. They aren’t interested in making a ‘quick buck’, and neither are we.

Who makes the investment decisions?

Each investment is subject to rigorous peer review and in depth analysis with the final decision resting with the Palamon partners, operating collegially, not consensually. We are painstakingly diligent but can also be flexible, fast and creative to ensure a deal succeeds, no matter how daunting or complex it may seem.

We take our responsibilities seriously

As a majority-shareholder in the businesses we acquire, we take our responsibilities seriously.